Laura Anderson (Florida)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Laura Anderson

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

Sycamore High School

Bachelor's

Illinois State University, 1991

Personal

Birthplace

St. Charles, Ill.

Religion

None

Profession

Railroad Conductor

Laura Anderson ran for election for Mayor of Miami in Florida. She lost in the general election on November 4, 2025.

Anderson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Laura Anderson was born in St. Charles, Illinois. Anderson's career experience includes working as a railroad conductor. She earned a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University in 1991. Anderson has been affiliated with the Socialist Workers Party and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Aerospace, Rail and Transportation Workers Union.

Elections

2025

See also: Mayoral election in Miami, Florida (2025)

General runoff election

General runoff election for Mayor of Miami

Emilio Gonzalez and Eileen Higgins are running in the general runoff election for Mayor of Miami on December 9, 2025.

		Candidate
		Emilio Gonzalez (Nonpartisan)
		Eileen Higgins (Nonpartisan)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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General election

General election for Mayor of Miami

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Miami on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eileen Higgins (Nonpartisan)	36.0	13,325
✔		Emilio Gonzalez (Nonpartisan)	19.5	7,214
		Ken Russell (Nonpartisan)	17.6	6,514
		Joe Carollo (Nonpartisan)	11.5	4,253
		Alex Díaz de la Portilla (Nonpartisan)	5.1	1,905
		Xavier Suarez (Nonpartisan)	4.9	1,830
		Michael Hepburn (Nonpartisan)	1.9	687
		Laura Anderson (Nonpartisan)	1.1	411
	Submit photo	Christian Cevallos (Nonpartisan)	0.8	287
	Submit photo	Kenneth DeSantis (Nonpartisan)	0.6	219
	Submit photo	Elijah Bowdre (Nonpartisan)	0.5	180
		Alyssa Crocker (Nonpartisan)	0.4	147
	Submit photo	June Savage (Nonpartisan)	0.2	84

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	There were no incumbents in this race. Source	Total votes: 37,056
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ijamyn Gray (Nonpartisan)
• Max Martinez (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Laura Anderson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Anderson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Laura Anderson joined the Socialist Workers Party in the early 1990s after being involved in the fights to push back attacks on immigrant workers under Proposition 187 in Los Angeles, in protests against the LAPD beating of Rodney King and in joining an International Youth brigade to Cuba to learn from the living socialist revolution there. She realized that joining the Socialist Workers Party was the most effective way to advance workers struggles worldwide.

She has joined actions demanding Moscow Out of Ukraine and calls for the US Out of Europe. She defends Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for the Jews and for the defeat of Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 pogrom signaled their intention to carry out another Holocaust. She has joined actions in the Miami organized to fight anti-Semitism including the murder of two youth outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.

Anderson is a union freight rail conductor in SMART TD Local 1138 in Miami and has walked picket lines with the members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, with autoworkers, postal workers and food concession workers in Miami as they have fought with their unions to win better wages and working conditions.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• The growing threat of WWIII with deepening rivalries between the US and other capitalist powers as well as with Russia and China is being felt by working people. The international working class has high stakes in supporting Israel’s defensive war to defeat Hamas and to prevent another Holocaust. I support the fight by the workers and farmers in Ukraine to defend their sovereignty against Putin’s brutal aggression.
• This world situation is driving attacks on our Constitutional protections. As workers, we must defend the right to freedom of speech, of worship, of assembly and due process. We must oppose the arrests and deportations of fellow workers, a life and death question for our unions and for uniting the working class. We call for Amnesty for all undocumented workers.
• The Miami Herald just reported, “More than half of Miamians can barely make ends meet.” An increasing number of workers, including full-time workers, cannot afford a place to live. Unions need to organize the unorganized, so we can fight for jobs for all at union scale wages, for a sliding scale of wages and hours. Safety is compromised in every industry with more workers injured and killed on the job. We need union run safety committees to ensure that no worker has to die on the job.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

For a union led movement, a public works program to put millions to work building things we need, daycare, bridges, hospitals, more schools, efficient transportation system, affordable housing that is comfortable.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Malcolm X, Fidel Castro, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Most important principle is to represent the interests of the working class interests in every aspect of political activity.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

To educate and organize the working class to take political power out of the hands of the capitalist class and join in the world wide struggle for socialism

What legacy would you like to leave?

To advance the struggle for the world socialist revolution.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The massive mobilization of mostly immigrant workers who protested attacks on their rights in cities across the U.S. in 2006-2008. I walked out of a mattress factory with my coworkers to join Hundreds of thousands in Chicago to protest working conditions, low wages, the raids and attacks on immigrant workers. This was an important fight for all workers and our unions as it is today.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Farm work , summers during Junior High and High School.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Malcolm X, Black Liberation and the road to Workers Power.

Explains the difference between Affirmative Action that was fought for in working-class struggle compared to the diversity and Inclusion used today by the "enlightened meritocracy" to justify their privileges and wealth.

Tells the story of forging of the Black Nationality in struggle in the U.S. and its connection with the world revolution.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Using the union in the fight for safety on the job against the bosses profit driven system.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Socialist Workers Party National Campaign

Candidates hear many personal stories from voters. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching or memorable?

Going door to door I met a Longshoreman with 30 years experience who has joined picket lines with his union. This included meatpackers in North Carolina, Hotel and resturant workers on strike in Las Vegas.
He said, " this is our duty as unionist to give solidarity, we may need it one day. Even if its your day off we need to it.".

What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

Leading my SMART-TD local 1138 to give solidarity to the United Auto Workers strike and the International Longshoremens Union three-day strike in Miami.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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