DuBose’s experience in office makes him the best choice
This district includes a large part of Fort Lauderdale and portions of Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes and Plantation.
For more than two decades, Democrats have been in the minority in Tallahassee, and Floridians have suffered as a result.
The party’s diminished role is due to a series of factors: state House districts gerrymandered for partisan gain; the “bleaching” of suburban districts that are whiter and less Democratic as a result of consolidating African American voting strength elsewhere; and the Republicans’ superior record at raising money and recruiting candidates, especially in central Florida.
In the Florida House, Republicans outnumber Democrats, 73 to 46, but beyond that, inexperience is a big problem. Rampant turnover created by term limits makes it impossible for Democrats to build depth with a roster of seasoned legislators. Thirty-five of 46 Democrats have four years experience or less, and seven more will be termed out in November. Only four have at least six years of experience. One of them is Rep. Bobby DuBose of Fort Lauderdale.
DuBose, 49, an insurance agent and a former Fort Lauderdale city commissioner, is in line to become co-leader of the House Democratic caucus in November under an unusual power-sharing arrangement with Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach. DuBose, who won his last two terms unopposed, is challenged by Elijah Manley, a 21-year-old graduate of Fort Lauderdale High who lost a school board race two years ago. Largely on the basis of experience, the
Sun Sentinel recommends voters keep DuBose. District 94 is mostly west of U.S. 1, north of SE 17th Street and south of Oakland Park Boulevard. The heart of this district is northwest Fort Lauderdale, and parts of Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, Lauderhill and Lauderdale Lakes are included. All voters, regardless of party, can vote in this primary because no Republicans filed.
Manley is one of the young progressive voices in Broward politics, and his inexperience shows. In the school board race, the Sun Sentinel reported, he spent thousands of dollars of campaign money on personal items like groceries and fast food and gave $2,000 to a political consultant with an apparent fictitious name who could not be found.
In this race, Manley received 10 notices from the state for skipping campaign reporting deadlines, and he faces thousands of dollars in fines. He blames the state for failing to upload his reports and said he was battling pneumonia at the time. The young challenger said he’s getting his campaign finances in order. If he does, he should run for this seat again in two years when it will be open.
Manley says the Legislature is too beholden to moneyed interests. He’s right about that. He wants a ban on legislators accepting campaign money from lobbyists, an idea DuBose opposes. Manley favors ending cash bail for some criminal defendants, which DuBose also does not support.
In his Sun Sentinel questionnaire, DuBose favored legal restrictions on for-profit charter schools. He said his proudest accomplishment was his sponsorship of a 2017 resolution in which the state apologized for the “grave injustice” to the Groveland Four, the black men wrongly shot to death or imprisoned on dubious evidence in the reported rape of a white woman in 1949 in Lake County.
The bottom line: DuBose’s experience is an asset sorely lacking in the House Democratic caucus and in a year when the overwhelmingly-Democratic Broward delegation will gain at least five new faces. In House District 94, the Sun Sentinel recommends Rep. Bobby DuBose.