Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Broward County: Black candidates
Claim 4 top Broward County offices: state attorney, public defender, clerk of court and sheriff
won huge in Broward County on Tuesday, sweeping four of the biggest electoral offices in the county for the first time ever. Voters handed victories to Black candidates for the jobs of State Attorney, Public Defender, Clerk of Court and Sheriff.
Black candidates won huge in Broward County on Tuesday, sweeping four of the biggest electoral offices in the county for the first time ever. Voters handed victories to Black candidates for the jobs of State Attorney, Public Defender, Clerk of Court and Sheriff.
Harold Pryor, the young former prosecutor who made a name for himself as president of the county’s Black bar association and campaigned aggressively in churches and Black neighborhoods, took an early lead when the counting started and held it through the night, beating his better known and better funded rivals.
Brenda Forman coasted to reelection against two challengers for the Clerk of Courts job.
And Gordon Weekes handily defeated two rivals for Broward Public Defender.
In addition to the courthouse races, Broward voters gave Broward’s first Black sheriff,
Gregory Tony, his first election win. He faces a Republican challenger and an independent candidate in the Nov. 3 general election.
“To have the voters validate the work we have been doing on behalf of the people is so gratifying,” said Weekes, his voice cracking with emotion. “It’s the power of the people speaking collectively about what the criminal justice system should look like in the future.”
Pryor held a slim lead over Joe
Kimok, whose progressive candidacy won national attention and big financial backing from George Soros, and a slightly larger margin against Sarahnell Murphy, who had the endorsement of outgoing State Attorney Mike Satz.
Late infusions of money into political action committees backing Murphy and Kimok did not appear to translate into enough voted to overcome Pryor’s ground game.
Pryor chided political observers for failing to predict the appeal of a charismatic Black candidate making the rounds in Black and Hispanic communities.
“Did anyone pay attention to Gillum’s gubernatorial race?” he said.
Two years ago Andrew Gillum won the Democratic nomination for governor on the underestimated strength of the Black vote. Pryor said he was inspired by Gillum’s campaign and emulated his tactics, seeing more
opportunity the more candidates got into the race.
With his victory, Pryor becomes the overwhelming favorite to win the November election, though Republican candidate Gregg Rossman is vowing to run a vigorous general election campaign. Also in the running is Independent Sheila Alu.
In the clerk’s race, Forman held onto a solid base of support while her challengers, former Circuit Judges Mark Speiser and Paul Backman, split the opposition. Forman won despite being outraised and outspent by her rivals. Her victory put to rest the nowoutdated political observation that she only won office four years ago because of her ex-husband’s name.
Forman had no college degree and limited management experience when she ran in 2016. But she had the name of Howard Forman, who was Broward’s clerk for 16 years, and she openly credited him with helping her win.
In office, she made her own name, for better and worse. She oversaw technology upgrades and defended her office’s performance from criticism on multiple fronts. She has lobbied for more money from the state to fund further improvements.
But she also got into a host of public squabbles, accusing attorney-blogger Bill Gelin of domestic violence for trying to take her picture in a courthouse hallway. While she dropped that accusation, she followed it up with a complaint to the Florida Bar, which is still investigating whether Gelin violated professional rules of conduct.
Forman has declined the Sun Sentinel’s requests for comments throughout the campaign.
By the end of Tuesday evening,
Weekes was well ahead of former Broward Circuit Judge Tom Lynch and Assistant Public Defender Ruby Green in the race to succeed Howard Finkelstein, who is retiring after 16 years in office.
Weekes was Finkelstein’s chosen successor and has spent years making his mark in the community, acting as the office’s voice on numerous public issues, including racial profiling, police use of excessive force and an ongoing dispute with Forman’s office over the collection and recovery of fees that would help his office represent the county’s poorest defendants.