Issue #28: Tuesday's Special Election Primaries in South Florida
Three African-American districts will hold primaries
January 11th is a big election day in South Florida. Three deep-blue state legislative seats will be holding Democratic primaries. Senate District 33, House District 88, and House District 94. These districts are all being vacated by officials who ran for the special election for the Florida 20th district. I covered that primary here.
In that elections, Senator Thurston, State House members DuBose and Hardy, all ran for but lost the primary for FL-20.
The race for the 20th came down to a nail-biter between Broward Commissioner Dale Holness and self-funding executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick. The final vote total was just FIVE votes! The general election for this seat is also on January 11th. However, as this is a district Biden got 77% of the vote in, there is 0% chance McCormick does easily take the general.
This post will focus on the special legislative elections taking place. A reminder that these seats are likely to remain vacant through the legislative session - as Ron DeSantis purposely delayed calling these primaries until he was finally sued over the delay. I wrote about this issue months back - and its especially shameful that Ron has done this with three historic African-American districts.
State Senate District 33
Senate District 33 is located in the heart of Broward County. Its a 46% black district that covers central Broward’s diverse black population. It includes not only traditional African-Americans, but also a growing Caribbean-black population. Its primaries are overwhelmingly black, and the primary is all that matters here.
The district includes all or part of many cities.
The race has two candidates running.
Rosalind Osgood - a member of the Broward School Board and longtime Democratic activist.
Terry Ann Williams Edden - a perennial candidate and legal assistant with the Broward State Attorney office.
Osgood is considered the clear frontrunner for the primary. She has been a high profile figure as Broward’s School Board has clashed with Governor DeSantis over masks in schools. Her last contested election was in 2016, where she got 59% in her re-election.
Osgood’s district on the school board doesn’t include all of her district, but luckily for her, most of her worst precincts were outside the Senate seat. She has raised $84,000 for her primary bid.
Edden, meanwhile, has run several times before. One of those races was in 2014 for the Broward County commission. This race actually holds a special place in my heart. I’m born and raised in Broward County, and in 2014 I left Tallahassee for 6 months to go work on this race. I was a field and data guy for Mark Bogen, the eventual winner. Edden came in last place; winning no precincts.
In 2020, Edden ran against Incumbent Senator Perry Thurston. Edden got 24% of the vote, while Thurston secured over 50%. Edden’s share of the vote was aided by the fact Thurston was being targeted by GOP-funded, third-party mailers. These attacks on Thurston tried to claim he wasn’t a progressive, and were designed to force Democrats to spend money to defend the Senator.
Edden, who had little cash in this race, benefitted from the attacks on Thurston.
In this latest contest, Edden has raised just $9,000.
Expect Osgood to easily win this primary.
State House District 94
Overlapping with much of SD33 is the special election for House District 94. This seat is being vacated by State Rep Bobby DuBose. This majority-black district includes part of Ft Lauderdale and several other cities. It also includes Wilton Manors, home to a historic LGBT community, and the best night-life in the area.
The district normally has overwhelmingly black primaries. However, since no one qualified for the general election, the primary will be open to all voters. On paper the district’s voting makeup could be under 50%.
However, the special election turnout right now is overwhelmingly Democratic, and the final votes cast are likely to be majority-black. All four candidates are left-leaning black democrats - and Republicans don’t have much reason to show up. Expect white and black democrats to dominate this final vote.
We have four candidates running
Elijah Manley - A 22-year old Democratic activists and previous candidate for the seat. He’s raised $31,000.
Daryl Campbell - DuBose’s campaign manager in 2020 and the Rep’s legislative assistant. He’s raised $75,000.
Josephus Eggelletion III - The son of a former county commissioner and state representative. He’s raised $61,000.
Rod Kemp - An activists who’s worked to help people get voting rights restored and worker on many political campaigns. He’s raised $6,000.
Manley has the benefit of being on the ballot before - thus retaining some name ID. Manley launched a leftist primary challenge to DuBose in 2020. He only got 30%, but that would be enough in a 4-way primary.
Manley also made a long-shot bid for Broward School Board in 2018. He benefits from residual name ID. Manley, who is a member of the LGBT community, would be one of the most high profile black LGBT officials in the state. Sadly, Manley has faced the same type of whisper campaign that Shev Jones (Florida’s lone LGBT Senator of color) suffered in his 2020 primary - with candidates trying to appeal to residual homophobia.
Manley also received the backing of the Sun Sentinel, which praised his growth as a candidate from his first run. Manley also has the backing of Ft Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantelis; the most high-profile LGBT local official in Broward County.
Eggelletion has backing from Senator Perry Thurston as well as several local officials in Lauderhill and Lauder Lauderdale Lakes. Daryl Campbell, who is Jamaican, has been working to secure support in the western end of the district. Manley, however, has the backing of Commissioner Dale Holness, who is incredibly strong with Caribbean voters. How these voters break will be very interesting.
Kemp does not seem to have as much notable support. This race is likely between three candidates.
House District 88
The final special election is for Palm Beach’s HD88; being vacated by Omari Hardy. This district was home to a very contentious 2020 primary, which saw Hardy oust scandal-plagued State Rep Al Jacquet. The district is heavily black and has a sizable Caribbean population.
This primary, however, is unlikely to be a major contest. Two candidates are running.
Clarence Williams - The former Rivera Beach Police Chief
Jervonte Edmonds - A former legislative aid and small business owner
Edmonds is the overwhelmingly favorite for this race. He has all the major endorsements and has raked in over $80,000. Williams, meanwhile, has little backing and has only taken in $8,000. Williams’ positions also place him to the right of the district; saying DeSantis has done an “adequate” job, supports the state’s current abortion restrictions, and serves on the board for a charter school. Williams also was ousted as Chief of Police when the union voted almost unanimously for no confidence on him after he apparently worked to get the city manager fired.
Edmonds is likely to win a landslide in the primary.
Other News
A reminder that legislative session begins on Tuesday as well. Redistricting is about to kick into full gear. You should see my recent post on the latest sets of maps released by the State Senate. After that article went out, Senator Darryl Rouson released a plan of his own (perhaps the first Senator to put his name on a plan - as best I can tell). I did a twitter thread on this plan.
Click the link for more details!