Final 2 jockeying for state attorney

Conventional wisdom hands Harold Pryor the keys to the Broward State Attorney’s Office in January.

Last month, he surprised many political analysts by coming in first in an eight-way Democratic primary for the top prosecutor’s job, becoming the first Black nominee for the position in a year when many voters are clamoring for criminal justice reform, and in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one.

But Republican Gregg Rossman doesn’t accept the conventional wisdom. A 20-year veteran prosecutor who left the office in 2014 and spent the last six years in civil practice, Rossman said he’s urging voters to put his work history up against Pryor’s to see who is best suited to replace Mike Satz, who decided last year not to seek reelection to what would have been a 12th term.

Observers are not convinced a résumé comparison is enough for a Republican candidate to win a countywide contest in the bluest part of the state in a presidential election year.

“It’s not impossible, but it’s not likely,” said Kevin Tynan, a former chairman of the Broward Republican Party. “The last Republican to win in Broward County was Al Lamberti (sheriff, 2008), and he was an incumbent. And he still lost four years later.”

Tynan’s former Democratic counterpart, Mitch Ceasar, agreed. “Rossman has great credentials, but Pryor is also very well qualified. Absent a scandal, Pryor has the upper hand,” Ceasar said. “By qualifying as a Republican in Broward, Rossman has purchased a lottery ticket, along with its odds of winning.”

State Rep. Bobby DuBose, DFort Lauderdale, said Rossman is running against history — if elected, Pryor would be the first Black state attorney in Broward history, and the second in the history of the state.

“It’s not just the policies that are in place,” he said. “It’s the people interpreting those policies. Harold Pryor grew up in that space. Gregg

Rossman doesn’t have an argument to counter it.”

Rossman does observe that while Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in Broward, they still only account for half the electorate. “Half the voters in this county are not Democrats,” he said.

He also downplays the racial aspect of the campaign, but he can’t avoid it, especially when the subject informs how the candidates and the public perceive the need for reform.

“I hope that people go by qualifications,” Rossman said during a recent joint interview with Pryor and the South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial board. “Qualifications over affiliation.”

On the issue of whether the justice system is disproportionately harsh to Black people, Rossman pushes back. “Systemic racism is not proven by incarceration rates,” he said. “Ninety-three percent of the people in prison are male. Is the system biased against men? No scientist would uphold that conclusion.”

Rossman spent seven years prosecuting some of the county’s most notorious murder cases, earning a reputation as a tenacious litigator and fierce advocate for victims of crime. Crime victims, he noted in the recent joint interview, are also disproportionately Black. “I don’t care that the offender is