Politics
Shevrin Jones, Oliver Gilbert, Kendrick Meek Jr. lead 7-way Democratic Primary for CD 24
Seven Democrats are competing in a Primary for a deep-blue South Florida congressional seat that just three people have held since 1993, and the victor Tuesday will be as close to a shoo-in as possible in the Nov. 3 General Election.
Atop the septet of candidates on the ballot in Florida’s 24th Congressional District are three front-runners: Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, state Sen. Shevrin Jones and lawyer Kendrick Meek Jr., whose grandmother and father previously served the district.
They and four others — Marshall Davis, Rudy Moise, Jean Monestime and Roderick Vereen — all hope to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, who has held office on Capitol Hill since 2011.
CD 24 covers Miami Gardens in Miami-Dade and Hollywood, Miramar and Pembroke Park in Broward County. Redrawn under a mid-decade map Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature enacted this year, it emerged largely intact as one of Florida’s two remaining Black-performing districts.
Its voting-age population is 47.7% Black and 40.9% Hispanic, and nearly 69% of voters there backed Kamala Harris in 2024.
Polling has shifted as Election Day nears, but it’s consistently shown Gilbert, Jones and Meek as the top three candidates.
A St. Pete Polls survey commissioned by Florida Politics in early August put Jones at 33.1%, Gilbert at 23.4% and Meek at 17.5%, with 26% undecided. That represented a reversal from July polling, which found Gilbert led Jones 27% to 24%. A National Victory Strategies poll cited by CBS News Miami showed a similar Jones advantage.
Jones, 42, is a former high school chemistry teacher who founded the youth nonprofit L.E.A.D. Nation before winning a Florida House seat in 2012 and his Senate District 34 seat in 2020.
He is the Legislature’s first openly LGBTQ Black member. In February, his peers in the chamber elected him Democratic Leader-designate, a post he gave up to run for Congress.
As a lawmaker, he passed legislation including the “Dignity for Incarcerated Women” act to mandate minimum hygiene provisions for female prisoners, a “blue envelope” program to improve police interactions with people on the autism spectrum, the “Teddy Bridgewater Act” to allow coaches and boosters to better help students, and expanded aid eligibility for students with developmental delays.
The issues page on his campaign website lists 17 planks, including an essential worker tax credit, a progressive tax structure that demands more of the wealthy, ending child poverty, artificial intelligence regulation, protecting Historic Black Colleges and Universities, and fixing North Perry Airport.
He vowed to sign onto the Consumer Tariff Rebate Act and wants immigration detention centers closed.
Jones’ endorsements include U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia and Ritchie Torres, a slew of state lawmakers, Broward Mayor Mark Bogen, Broward Property Appraiser Marty Kiar, Broward Commissioner Alexandra Davis, several municipal leaders and NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
Organizations backing him include 1199SEIU Florida, the Miami AFL-CIO, United Teachers of Dade, Equality Florida, SAVE, Broward Firefighters and Black Men Vote PAC, among others.
Between when he filed for the race June 4 and the end of the second-quarter reporting period July 31, Jones reported raising close to $284,000 and spending $78,600.
Last month, a Gilbert-linked super PAC attacked him over two committee votes he cast this past Session to advance the renaming of Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump, omitting that Jones voted against the bill in its last two Senate stops and tried to bar Trump from profiting off the rebranding.
Gilbert voted to approve a Hialeah street renaming after Trump less than two years earlier.
This week, voters in CD 24 received an anonymous text, fraudulently attributed to Equality Florida, that falsely claimed Jones has HIV. He does not.
Gilbert and Meek both condemned the message, calling it “evil” and “disgusting,” respectively.
Gilbert, 53, is a Miami Gardens-born lawyer who served on the City Council from 2008 to 2012, when he was elected Mayor.
During his term, which lasted through 2020, when he won his District 1 seat at County Hall, Miami Gardens earned its first All-America City designation. He chaired the Miami-Dade Commission from 2022 to 2024.
On the Commission, he led an unfinished push to expand rapid transit and secured more than $20 million for a Miami Gardens Performing Arts Center. He also spent years fighting North Miami Beach over water surcharges levied on Miami Gardens residents, calling it taxation without representation.
Jones weighed in on the issue as well, sponsoring legislation in 2025 to stop the surcharge. DeSantis later vetoed the measure, calling it a local matter requiring a local fix, which Gilbert passed at the county level later that year, much to the chagrin of North Miami Beach officials.
Gilbert’s campaign site includes the message, “Stopping Trump. Building the Next America.” He vows to lower the Medicare eligibility age and raise Medicaid income limits so people aren’t priced out of coverage by taking a job.
He also wants to eliminate federal income taxes for working families, halt U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and create a universal childcare and pre-K program. His proposed “BUILD Business Act” would offer startups additional grants, a low-interest Small Business Administration growth line and employee-ownership incentives, among other things.
Wilson endorsed him at a June event where she physically handed him a torch. His other backers include Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris, Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins and numerous union organizations like SEIU 32BJ, SEIU Local 1991, the Florida AFL-CIO and UNITE HERE Local 355.
Through July 31, he led the field in money with more than $812,000. Heading into August, he had $229,000 remaining.
He has taken heat in recent weeks as Jones’ campaign highlighted $70,000 Gilbert accepted — the most of any County Commission member — from CDR, an emergency management contractor that helped build the now-shuttered Alligator Alcatraz.
Jones also received CDR contributions, albeit for far less: $7,500 through his former political committee between 2020 and 2021, long before the immigration detention center.
Gilbert’s campaign says Protect Progress, a super PAC funded largely by the crypto-backed Fairshake network, has spent nearly $1 million attacking him, using fake news headlines in mailers sent to CD 24 voters.
Meek, 29, is a land use and real estate lawyer at LSN Law whose grandmother Carrie Meek and father Kendrick Meek held the CD 24 seat from 1993 to 2011.
He has stressed that he’s the only candidate in the race with experience in Congress, citing his internship with U.S. House committees and work at the Office of Management and Budget under former President Joe Biden.
His campaign site emphasizes housing, affordable healthcare, economic opportunity, improved education and community safety. If elected, he said he’ll support legislation to build workforce housing units for teachers, nurses and first responders; expand down payment assistance and Section 8 funding; curb private equity purchases of neighborhoods; and protect renters from steep rate hikes.
He also backs apprenticeships and skilled trades training, Medicare for All, restoring the expired Affordable Care Act premium tax credit and abolishing ICE.
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi endorsed him last week, joining, among others, U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty, Jim Clyburn and Steven Horsford; former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson; Miami Heat great Alonzo Mourning; and the SMART union.
He raised close to $658,000 and spent a significant chunk of that sum, entering August with just under $115,000.
Meek, who is gay, was the subject of another fraudulent text, along with Jones, that Florida Politics flagged this week.
If he or Jones win this year, they would be Florida’s first openly gay member of Congress.
Rounding out the ballot are:
— Moise, 71, a Haitian-born physician and retired Air Force colonel making his third run at Congress. He wants Medicare eligibility lowered to 55 and reported spending $555,846 on the contest, the second-most of anyone, behind Gilbert.
— Monestime, 63, the first Haitian American to chair the Miami-Dade Commission. He is campaigning on a promise to help renters achieve homeownership and extend Temporary Protected Status.
— Davis, 76, who has directed Liberty City’s African Heritage Cultural Arts Center since 1983. He proposes capping down payments and mortgage payments at 3%.
— Vereen, 64, a criminal defense lawyer. He has pitched a 10-year plan built on social housing and federally funded artificial intelligence training centers.
Republican Te Brown, no-party candidate Andy Daro and write-in candidate Patricia Gonzalez are also running and will appear on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot.
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