Politics
5 Broward municipalities have elections Tuesday. Here’s who’s running and what’s at stake
Voters in five municipalities across Broward County have an opportunity to change their governments Tuesday.
Four — Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach, Miramar and Sea Ranch Lakes — have elected offices up for grabs.
Then there’s Pembroke Pines, which doesn’t have any candidates running. Instead, voters there face eight ballot questions.
Here’s what’s at stake.
Three seats on the five-member City Council are on the ballot in Coconut Creek, a municipality of more than 57,800 residents.
For the District B seat, incumbent Council member Jackie Railey, the city’s current Vice Mayor, faces a challenge from Philippa Sklaar. Railey is a Democrat and carries official support from the Florida Democratic Party. Sklaar has no party affiliation
For District C, incumbent Council member Sandra Welch, the city’s current Mayor, hopes to stave off a challenge from fellow Democrat Patricia Duaybes.
And in District E, incumbent Joshua Rydell is competing with fellow Democrat Felicia Shuman Newkirk.
Duaybes, a 56-year-old certified drone pilot and app developer, has proven herself an able fundraiser. Her campaign has amassed about $64,000 since October 2023 — the most of any Coconut Creek candidate this cycle — through a blend of personal and corporate checks.
She’s running on a platform prioritizing government transparency, public safety, fiscal responsibility, economic development and integrating more technology into city infrastructure. Tamarac Vice Mayor Kicia Daniel, Deerfield Beach Commissioner Bernie Parness, former state Rep. Jim Waldman and former Coconut Creek Mayor Mikkie Belvedere have endorsed her.
Welch, a 76-year-old former American Express employee, has raised $22,300. She promises to continue applying the same “boots on the ground” approach to governance that she’s taken since she won office in 2013 and stresses that as a retiree, her elected job is a full-time focus.
Her endorsers included the Broward County PBA, Sierra Club, Metro-Broward Professional Firefighters, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and Broward, Palm Beaches and St Lucie Realtors.
Rydell, a 43-year-old lawyer first elected to the City Council in 2015, has been a fundraising goliath compared to his challenger. Through Feb. 21, he raised more than $51,000. Shuman Newkirk, a 45-year-old public school substitute teacher, reported raising just under $2,000 through Thursday, nearly all of it self-given.
Her campaign website says she wants to make government more inclusive and promote “proactive initiatives.”
Railey, an 81-year-old former real estate pro first elected to the Council in 2021, has raised close to $18,000, more than four times the sum collected by her 64-year-old opponent, Sklaar, an author and activist who emigrated to the U.S. from South Africa in 2001.
Sklaar has repeatedly attacked Railey, a neighbor in the Wynmoor Village condo community, on social media, accusing the incumbent of elder abuse and misusing her elected office for personal gain.
After more than a year, Railey responded with a defamation lawsuit last June that is expected to continue beyond Election Day. A former Broward County Judge the city hired to investigate Sklaar’s accusations said the evidence he reviewed indicated Railey did not abuse her official position.
Voters in Deerfield Beach, a city of some 87,000 residents, are picking a new Mayor and two new City Commission members Tuesday.
In a two-way mayoral race, District 4 Commissioner Todd Drosky, the city’s current Vice Mayor, faces real estate investor Dan Herz for the right to succeed term-limited Bill Ganz as the city’s top elected official.
Both are registered Republicans.
Drosky, 53, raised more than $41,700 through Feb. 21. He carries endorsements from the Broward Teachers Union, Broward Young Republicans, Metro-Broward Professional Firefighters and a deputies’ union from the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
He’s running on a promise to keep taxes level, add more green spaces, promote “smart and responsible” development and promote public safety.
Herz, 63, amassed nearly $55,000. His campaign priorities include permanently lowering property taxes by 10%, moving the city’s elections to November, spurring local economic development and improving fiscal responsibility in government.
A third candidate, Chaz Stevens, dropped out of the race and endorsed Drosky after taking Herz, the city and Broward Supervisor of Elections to court to remove Herz from the ballot. Stevens alleged that Herz lives in Plantation, not Deerfield Beach. A Judge decided Wednesday that the matter will have to wait to be settled until after the election.
For the Commission’s District 3 seat, which represents a center-west portion of the city, three candidates — Philip Bradley, Daniel Shanetzky and Karen Shelly — are running to succeed Commissioner Bernie Parness.
Bradley, a 74-year-old Republican, added $17,000 from his bank account to his campaign coffers through Feb. 21, but spent less than $100 of it.
Shanetsky, 62, raised about $36,000 and spent close to half that sum. Shelly, 70, raised about $9,000 and sent $5,300. Both are Democrats.
Bradley is running to reduce property taxes, “embrace innovative technology” and advocate for “smart development.”
Shanetsky, meanwhile, is leaning on his community involvement over the past four years, including service as Vice Chair of the Deerfield Beach Cultural Affairs Committee. He’s prioritizing public safety, a preservation-conscious development plan and addressing traffic issues
Shelly, who worked in several posts in state government and is now a condo manager, wants to help small businesses in the community, reestablish the Deerfield Beach Chamber of Commerce and ensure residents have a say in government decisions.
Twenty-eight years ago, in 1996, she unsuccessfully ran for Broward Supervisor of Elections.
In the race for the District 4 seat, which represents the city’s northwest corner, Republicans Chauncey Chapman, 75, and Thomas Plaut, 73, are squaring to replace Drosky.
Through mid-February, Chapman raised close to $21,000, almost all of it his money. A retired engineering professional in the scuba diving industry, he plans, if elected, to roll back property taxes by 10%, provide residents more exclusive amenities, move the city’s elections to November and stop “stupid spending of our tax dollars.”
Plaut, who previously managed office operations for a home inspection company, is the city’s current Planning and Zoning Board Chair. He raised about $27,000, but spent less than $2,500 of it.
Of note, Chapman is a write-in candidate.
Broward’s fourth-largest municipality by population, Miramar has three City Commission seats at stake Tuesday.
For Seat 2, incumbent Democrat Yvette Colbourne faces a challenge from Republican Luis Pedraza.
Coulbourne, 63, was first elected in 2013 and last won re-election in 2021 with 66% of the vote. She’s running on a record of working to keep the city’s taxes flat, require a minimum wage for city employees, create an affordable housing trust fund, improving local infrastructure and opposing Miami-Dade County’s efforts to build a trash incinerator just outside the city.
According to her most recent campaign finance report, Colbourne raised more than $155,000 and spent about $39,000 to hold onto her seat.
Pedraza, 54, is running on a promise to prioritize public safety, affordable housing, fiscal responsibility in government, regulating nearby limestone blast mining, improving traffic and supporting school choice in education. He also opposes the trash incinerator, which he calls an “insanely awful idea.”
He raised $69,500 and spent close to half that sum.
Three candidates — Avril Cherasard, Nari Tomlinson and Keith “Papa Keith” Walcott — are running for Seat 3 representing the city’s east side, which outgoing Commissioner Winston Barnes has represented for 22 years.
Cherasard, a 44-year-old real estate broker, is the sole no-party person in the race. She raised close to $36,000 and spent $22,000 through Feb. 21.
Democrats Tomlinson and Walcott each carry notable endorsements.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel recommended that voters choose Tomlinson, a 36-year-old finance director for a nursing referral service, citing his residency in the city’s oft-overlooked historic neighborhood.
Meanwhile, the Florida Democratic Party is behind Walcott, a radio DJ whom it listed among its modest “Take back Local” slate for March. Florida Future Leaders, a Gen Z-led PAC, is also backing him.
Moneywise, Walcott leads the field with more than $55,000 raised. Tomlinson carries a comparatively paltry war chest of less than $3,500.
In the race to complete the Seat 4 term of Alexandra Davis, who left for the Broward County Commission, four Democrats are running to serve through 2027: Kertch Conze, Carson “Eddy” Edwards, Kerri-Ann Nesbeth and Pamella Reid.
Conze, a 51-year-old former Assistant State Attorney, leads in funding in the race, raising $76,000 through the third week of February. Edwards, a 69-year-old marketing pro, raised $50,000, while Nesbeth and Reid amassed $30,000 and $5,000, respectively.
Nesbeth, 35, is the managing partner of an education management firm. Reid, 60, acquires talent for a senior health care firm.
The Sun-Sentinel recommends Nesbeth, who also carries endorsements from Barnes, Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam, state Sens. Shevrin Jones and Barbara Sharief, state Rep. Robin Bartleman and Florida Future Leaders, among several others.
Sea Ranch Lakes
The insular village of Sea Ranch Lakes, population 540, has three of its six Council seats up for election.
Five residents have qualified to run for the seats: Leann Bruener, Denise Bryan, Douglas Hodgson, Chad Volkert and Christopher Weber.
The three who win the most votes will take office. Hodgson and Weber are running to keep the seat to which they were appointed in December.
Voters in Pembroke Pines, population 171,119, face eight ballot questions. Most center on the role and responsibilities of City Manager and would:
— Allow the appointment or removal of an Acting City Manager by a three-fifths vote of the City Commission, instead of the current four-fifths threshold.
— Allow the appointment or removal of a City Manager by a three-fifths vote rather than a four-fifths vote.
— Expand the City Manager’s role to include Superintendent of city-owned charter schools.
— Replace the word “disability” with “incapacity” when referring to the City Manager’s inability to perform their duties in situations necessitating the appointment of an Acting City Manager.
— Expand the qualifications of the City Manager from three years of experience as a City Manager or Assistant City Manager to also include three years of comparable experience, as determined by the City Commission.
— Remove a required public hearing from the process of removing a City Manager.
— Require, in cases of vacancies on the City Commission, the appointment of an interim Commissioner and a Special Election to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.
— Approve issuance of $230 million in bonds for the construction and improvement of a police and public safety complex, community facilities, recreational facilities, roadway and infrastructure improvement, and land acquisition.
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