Pembroke Pines and Lauderhill have elections next month. Here’s what’s at stake

Voters in Pembroke Pines and Lauderhill will head to the polls next month for very different elections, with one city choosing two elected officials and the other deciding on a hefty bond issue.

They’re the only Broward County municipalities of six scheduled to hold elections March 10 having them. In Hillsboro Beach, Lazy Lake, Lighthouse Point, and Sea Ranch Lakes, at-large candidates coasted into office unopposed.

Pembroke Pines

In Pembroke Pines, Broward’s second-largest city by population, Vice Mayor Mike Hernández and Commissioner Thomas Good hope to fend off challenges and secure four-year terms representing Districts 4 and 1, respectively.

Hernandez has one opponent: Elizabeth Burns, an event planner who unsuccessfully ran for Mayor as a first-time candidate in 2024.

Burns, meanwhile, faces two challengers: former Pembroke Pines Police Sergeant Jim Henry and Dennis Hinds, a banking, finance, real estate and insurance professional.

Hernández, a public relations and government affairs pro, first joined the City Commission by appointment in May 2024 and won the right to serve the remaining two years of the District 4 seat term that November.

His priorities, if re-elected, include opposing higher electric utility rates, fighting the construction of a trash incinerator within the city’s bounds, reducing traffic congestion and improving the city’s fiscal responsibility, parks and public safety.

Through Dec. 31, he raised about $49,500 and spent $22,000. His donations came from a variety of industries, including construction, engineering, insurance, waste services, tow-trucking, government relations and advertising.

Notable contributions included $1,000 from former U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, $1,000 from charter school executive Maggie Zulueta and $100 from dentist Mike Friend, who is running to succeed state Rep. Mike Gottlieb in House District 102.

Burns, a current member and past Chair of the city’s Diversity and Heritage Advisory Board, shares several of Hernandez’s platform priorities, including the anti-incinerator, traffic and public safety issues.

She also vows to back the development of more affordable housing, support military families, champion small businesses, advocate for more senior and special needs services, enhance roadways for cyclists, and promote culture and diversity in the city.

She raised and spent about $3,8000 by New Year’s Eve, all through personal checks and $300 in self-contributions. One $250 check came from former state Rep. James Bush III of Miami, who lost his seat in 2022 after being the only Democrat in the Legislature to vote for GOP-backed abortion restrictions and Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Good, a U.S. Navy veteran and municipal utility services administrator, is running for a third straight term in the District 1 seat he won in 2018, which he took after serving as an elected South Broward Drainage District Commissioner.

His job history includes working as Public Works Director for the Cooper City and Miramar, and Assistant City Manager for Deerfield Beach. As an elected official, he’s focused on delivering cost-effective municipal services, improving transportation safety and mobility, and adding to the local affordable housing index.

Since filing for re-election, Good has raised close to $32,000 and spent about $6,700. Donors included a blend of South Florida residents, out-of-town contributors and various business and political interests. Among them: several Doral-based hospitality companies, a firefighters’ union, a Tallahassee-based consulting company and state Sen. Rosalind Osgood of Tamarac.

Good also loaned his campaign $6,000.

Henry, who retired from the Pembroke Police Department in November 2023 and previously served in the U.S. Coast Guard, has run a fully self-funded campaign so far, pouring $7,500 from his bank account into his campaign coffers through Dec. 31.

He’s a first-time candidate, but he believes his decades in service have given him ample ideas for how to improve Pembroke Pines. His three priorities, if elected, will be to improve the “horrible” but fixable traffic concerns throughout the district, address disorder at North Perry Airport and enhance local schools with career and mentorship programs.

Hinds brings ample volunteer experience to the race, including service on the city’s Planning and Zoning, Diversity and Inclusion, and Stroke Awareness Boards. He also works with the Miami Veterans Hospital, homeless shelters and food pantries, according to his campaign website, which includes a list of professional services he offers.

If elected, he plans to focus on growing the city’s economy and job offerings, improving public safety and expanding family, youth and senior services. He also promises to back law enforcement, keep taxes fair and property values strong.

By the end of the last campaign finance reporting period, Hinds had raised $1,500. All but one donor was from South Florida.

District 1 covers an area of Pembroke Pines east of Flamingo Road and south of Hollywood Boulevard, while District 4 spans a city area west of Flamingo Road and south of Pines Boulevard.

Lauderhill

In Lauderhill, voters will weigh in on a referendum concerning the proposed RISE Lauderhill general obligation bond to invest $65 million in local projects.

The city ballot includes three questions, the approval of which would OK bond issues funded by unlimited property taxes. They include:

— Question 1, which would authorize up to $9.5 million in bonds for public safety projects.

— Question 2, which would authorize up to $34 million in bonds for city-wide park improvements and facilities hardening.

— Question 3, which would authorize up to $21.5 million in bonds for transportation and roadway projects.

Details about the projects can be viewed here.

Voters in Lauderhill will return to the polls again in November to choose a Mayor and decide who will hold Seat 4 on the City Commission. As of this week, only one candidate — Ishmel Brown — has filed to run for the Mayor’s post now held by Denise Grant.

For Seat 4, Vice Mayor Richard Campbell faces a challenge from Tiffany Jackson.

Odds and ends

Florida Politics contacted the Clerk’s Offices of the four other municipalities whose elections were canceled due to a lack of competition. Just one provided names of the default winners by press time.

In Hillsboro Beach, only two candidates filed to run for two open seats: Mayor Dawn Miller and Commissioner Jane Reiser.

The town didn’t have an election last year either.