Democrats Osgood, Edmonds win in Broward, Palm Beach special election
Rosalind Osgood, a Democrat and former chair of the Broward County School Board, was easily elected Tuesday night for state Senate District 33, a district that has been without representation in the Florida Senate since early January.
She beat out Joseph Carter, her Republican opponent.
And in Palm Beach County’s House District 88, Democrat Jervonte ‘Tae’ Edmonds, a 30-year-old former legislative assistant to Sen. Bobby Powell, also had a landslide victory over the Republican candidate, retired Palm Beach school teacher Guarina Torres.
About an hour after polls closed on Tuesday, Osgood was leading with more than 80% of the vote, with most precincts reporting. Edmonds was leading by a similar margin with precincts partially reported.
Osgood, 56, who runs a social service agency and serves as an associate minister at the New Mount Olive Baptist Church, made headlines last year as the school board she chaired defied Gov. Ron DeSantis as he sought to penalize school board members and superintendents in districts that made mask-wearing mandatory with deducting their pay.
A Broward native, Osgood has had an unconventional journey into public office. Thirty-two years ago, she struggled with homelessness and drug addiction until she sought rehab treatment and other services to get her life on track. In an interview with the Herald last week, she said she wants more access to capital for small businesses and local nonprofits, care for senior citizens and education.
Edmonds, who is from Fort Lauderdale, is the CEO of Suits for Seniors, a nonprofit group that provides career and life mentorship for high school seniors. He said his priority is to tackle housing in his district, something he said he wants to accomplish by giving developers some additional tax breaks as an incentive to build affordable homes.
The two state elections coincided with a number of municipal elections in both counties. The seats have been vacant since two state lawmakers, former Rep. Omari Hardy and former Sen. Perry Thurston, resigned from their seats to run for Florida’s Congressional District 20. Both of their districts were left without representation during most of the regular legislative session, which is set to end on Friday.
Both Osgood and Edmonds will have to run again in a matter of months for the 2022 midterm cycle, with a primary set for Aug. 23 and the general election on Nov. 8.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 8:31 PM.
