In low-key Broward special election, four candidates vie for attention
Voters in portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties will head to the polls Tuesday to decide a winner in three state legislative primary races and the general election in Florida’s 20th Congressional District. Turnout is expected to be low for an unusual Election Day that’s seen controversy and finger-pointing over its timing.
All districts are safely Democratic seats in majority Black areas, with the victor in Broward’s House District 94 to be chosen Tuesday because there are no Republicans or independent candidates who qualified to be on the ballot. (The question of whether the winner will be sworn in immediately, however, is still unclear.)
The four candidates in HD 94 — which includes west Fort Lauderdale, parts of Plantation, Wilton Manors and Oakland Park — are running to replace former Rep. Bobby DuBose, who resigned his seat along with two other Florida Democrats in the Legislature to run for Congress.
In interviews with the Miami Herald, the four candidates acknowledged that, because the legislative session is set to begin on Tuesday and House Speaker Chris Sprowls has not said if he intends to swear in the victor immediately, the winner will have little time to build relationships with colleagues and will likely have little influence over legislation. Their priorities ranged from healthcare and infrastructure, to protecting voting rights and bringing better job opportunities.
At the same time, the HD 94 candidates had different thoughts on the void in representation in Broward and Palm Beach counties, with some blaming Gov. Ron DeSantis for waiting 87 days to declare the election dates and others frustrated at the number of South Florida Democrats who resigned to run for higher office.
During a press conference on Monday, Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said he was in communication with leadership at the U.S. Postal Service District location in Opa-locka to make sure mail ballots were delivered in time to be counted. He said the effort was in light of the 287 ballots that were eligible to be counted for Florida’s 20th Congressional District primary, but were found after Election Day in November and couldn’t be counted.
“The November election is settled. Nothing’s going to change,” he said while standing alongside U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in front of the USPS facility.
“I would expect a higher level of vigilance because of what we did today. I would expect that if there’s a bin of ballots that got lost last time, that there’s gonna be an extra set of eyes running around that facility tomorrow afternoon to make sure that doesn’t happen tomorrow,” he added.
Scott said he was even going to show up at the facility on Wednesday and Thursday and expects to find no eligible ballots that should have been counted.
“I’m really wondering if Wednesday they’ll even have anything for us. Because last time, on Wednesday, they had a whole lot for us,” he added.
Meet the candidates for HD 94
DARYL CAMPBELL
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Campbell, a 35-year-old mental health specialist and founder of his own clinical practice Voice Unplugged, says he’s running because he’s passionate about the mental health crisis afflicting his community. Campbell, who grew up in Lauderdale Lakes, is a former legislative aide to DuBose, a job he said helped him develop relationships in the Legislature.
“I come with that experience already knowing the individuals and having spoken with them prior to. So I want to utilize those skills and those connections so that I can continue to do what he [DuBose] has done,” said Campbell.
As a social worker, Campbell said he’s concerned about the toll the pandemic has taken, particularly among young Black men. He said he’s worried about the impact on children’s education through the pandemic and the massive resignations due to stagnant wages.
“I haven’t had conversations about projects people are looking to get done. What I have had are conversations with community leaders about what they would like to see get done,” said Campbell, adding he’s supportive of policies that can increase wages for people in his community.
“We have to find a way to support these families, especially single mothers, single households that are dealing with having to work and take care of the kids at the same time during these difficult times — adding some services around them, working with community organizations that are already doing that,” Campbell added.
JOSEPHUS EGGELLETION III
Eggelletion III, 47, is also a Lauderdale Lakes native. He has worked in the healthcare industry for over 20 years, currently handling sales for Encompass Health, which provides home health care and hospice services. He said one of the issues that he’s most passionate about is the staff shortages in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
He is the son of longtime Broward politician Josephus Eggelletion, who was the first African-American mayor in Broward County but ultimately resigned and served time in prison over a money-laundering scandal. He died in 2018.
Eggelletion III said that, although he’s been surrounded by politics since he was 11, he wasn’t interested in entering politics until now when he felt there was a void left by the state lawmakers who resigned to run for Congress. He said not having the congressional seat filled while federal lawmakers were discussing the infrastructure bill was detrimental to his district.
“When I knock on the doors, so many people are turned off. They just felt like our community was eating each other and it left them with no leaders in our community,” said Eggelletion III. “These people left them with no one. They resigned from their position, and they just left them.”
Eggelletion said that aside from staff shortages, he wants to make sure HD 94 has someone to advocate for appropriations for community projects and that there are higher paying jobs in his district. He also said he wants to see state legislators advocate to expand Medicaid.
“Growing up here ... we had corporations here that offered certain salaries for people to live off of and all those are gone,” Eggelletion III said. “I want to bring companies that will create careers. I don’t want to bring jobs that pay $12 an hour.”
ROD KEMP
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Kemp, 65, has a background in banking and the nonprofit sector, but he has really made his name by being involved in the campaign for Amendment 4, a referendum passed by voters in 2018 to restore voting rights to many convicted felons. When he was 29, Kemp was convicted of cocaine possession, and his voting rights were revoked. His story was prominently featured by Florida media in the years leading up to the ballot initiative.
Kemp has since had his rights restored and says the experience of working on the campaign was a catalyst in his decision
to run in the special election.
“Voting rights is so important, and it’s our individual voices. ... The fight to get mine back made it even more important to me,” Kemp said, adding he wants to make sure the state’s ruling party does not continue to support legislation that makes it more difficult for voters to cast a ballot.
Kemp said he also wants to see more initiatives that can help first-time homeowners and supports the expansion of Medicaid. But he also acknowledged there needs to be a short-term solution, like a community co-op plan to help residents with medical expenses.
He also said he wants to see permanent funds for climate change in the state budget, as well as funds for storm drainage projects.
ELIJAH MANLEY
Manley turned 23 less than a week before Election Day. This is not his first time running for this seat, but he says he’s confident that this time around, he has the backing of local lawmakers he didn’t have before. He’s been endorsed by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, former Broward Commissioner Dale Holness and several other local commissioners.
He says that, if elected, he would beat former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by just a few months to become the youngest Black elected official in Florida’s history.
“I think there should be more of us,” said Manley.
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Manley was raised in low-income public housing, living in what he has said is the general experience of people in his district, including the difficulties of finding affordable housing.
“Coming from my background, I’ve faced a lot of adversity,” he said. “Homelessness, gun violence that affected the community.”
Manley said that he has been meeting with lawmakers in Tallahassee in anticipation of what he hopes will be his induction into the Legislature. If he’s elected, he says he wants to focus on infrastructure and healthcare.
“It’s infrastructure, it’s water quality, the pipes that are breaking, the issues they have with water. They have projects they need to address in the district,” Manley said. “That’s why I want to make that a priority that I want to tackle.”
More importantly, he said, is how to make west Fort Lauderdale a community that is more similar to downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Meet the candidates for the 20th Congressional District
SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK
Winning the primary election by just five votes over Holness, Cherfilus-McCormick widely expects to succeed Hastings in Congress. She says that her main priority is to push for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, attract better job opportunities and expand access to affordable healthcare.
She’s also passionate about immigration policy, particularly when it comes to the treatment of Haitian immigrants who are fleeing several political and humanitarian crises in their country to live in the U.S.
“We have to be good allies with Haitian people in Haiti and Haitian Americans here,” she said. “We see inconsistencies when it comes to that.”
Cherfilus-McCormick, whose personal loans made her stand out as the best-funded candidate in a crowded Democratic primary, was criticized over failing to file her financial disclosure as a candidate, which she has since filed with the Federal Election Commission.
She said she wants to see more money coming into her district, and says she hopes to support her district as it faces vacancies in the state government.
“I’ll do everything i can, and I’m planning on stepping in,” said Cherfilus-McCormick, 42.
JASON MARINER
Mariner, 36, said he decided to run because he doesn’t like the direction the U.S. is going in. Mariner made headlines late last year after reports surfaced that he may not be eligible to run for higher office. He has a criminal record, which he has said stems from drug addiction, and could not seek higher office under state law.
While he could have had his rights restored as a former felon, Mariner refused to answer direct questions about whether he applied to recover his rights. Instead, he said he qualifies under the three standards to run for federal office: to reside in the state when elected, to be over 25 years old and be a U.S. citizen for at least seven years.
Still, Mariner said he wanted to run because he felt a lot of members of Congress were not keeping their constituents’ issues in mind.
“There’s people living below the poverty line, there’s not a lot of opportunity for economic growth,” Mariner said. “It’s not a big ask, to have school choice, better, safer cleaner streets and job protections.”
He said that at the end of the day, he sees his conviction as an asset for people to see him as a relatable candidate.
“I want to show people that things can be done differently,” Mariner said. “You can overcome addiction, you can overcome the criminal justice system.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 8:15 PM.
