Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Holness to run for Hastings vacancy
Broward commissioner gets boost from Hastings’ son
Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness made official Monday what he’s unofficially been doing for years: running for Congress. He announced his candidacy — and the support of the late Congressman Alcee Hastings’ son.
Holness is widely seen as a top tier candidate to replace Hastings, who served more than 28 years in Congress until his death on April 6 at age 84.
“Following in the legacy of Congressman Alcee Hastings is not going to be easy,” Holness said Monday night during the announcement at his real estate office. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Ten county and local officials were on hand and endorsed Holness, including Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, Sheriff Greg Tony, Clerk of Courts Brenda Forman and Lauderdale Lakes Mayor Hazelle Rogers.
The most important supporter at the event was Alcee “Jody” Hastings II.
“My father and Dale shared a long friendship,” he said. “Our family stands firmly beyond Dale . ... Dale has the grit, perseverance, determination, the compassion, to continue his legacy fighting for justice and fighting for quality for all.”
Emphasizing ties
Before Hastings’ death, Holness was seen as close to the congressman, and emphasized those ties, including sponsoring a proposal to name part of a Broward County road after Hastings while he was still alive.
Since Hastings’ death, Holness has accentuated his ties to Hastings, mourning the loss
of “a great friend, a giant of a man [and a] fearless fighter for justice and equality and opportunity for all people,” adding that he “cherish[es] the bonds of friendship that we were able to establish.”
Holness said he might not have been elected to the County Commission if Hastings hadn’t supported his 2010 candidacy.
Hastings was “A great leader. A powerful voice. A voice who stood for those who have been left out. A voice who spoke for those who are voiceless,” Holness said. “I will work every day diligently to continue his legacy and build on it.”
In pictures Holness posted to social media on Saturday showing him attending an Olympic Qualifying Track and Field event in Miramar, Holness was wearing a “Hastings for Congress” mask and a “Team Holness” T-shirt from a previous County Commission campaign.
Leading candidate
Holness is a formidable candidate.
He served a term as Broward mayor starting in November 2019, making him the face of county government during the initial, most critical periods of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Holness was born in Jamaica and has a strong political base in Broward’s Caribbean American community.
He’s also in recent years built a major political machine, helping his own County Commission re-election campaign last year — and the elections of other candidates. It’s an invaluable infrastructure to have at the ready for the congressional race, which is attracting multiple candidates, and the outcome will rest on who can do the best chance at turning out their voters in special primary election.
He has had successful and unsuccessful campaigns. He lost a County Commission race in 2008. Before that, he ran twice for Lauderhill City Commission before winning on his third attempt. He won re-election to that job.
Holness, 64, a real estate broker, lives in Plantation.
Commission relationships
Among his Democratic Party colleagues on the commission, Holness hasn’t been the most popular. He was elected in 2010 but it wasn’t until his ninth year in office that the other commissioners elected him to a one-year term as county mayor — after he was repeatedly passed over in favor of commissioners with less seniority.
Commissioner Barbara Sharief, by contrast, who was first elected the same year as Holness, had already been mayor twice before Holness got his year as mayor. Sharief is also running for the congressional seat.
And state Sen. Perry Thurston, a Broward Democrat also considered a leading contender for the seat, was chosen by his colleagues as Democratic leader when he served in the Florida House. He’ll have to resign from the state Senate to run for Congress, but if he remains in Tallahassee, he’s already been chosen by his colleagues as Senate Democratic leader for two years starting in 2022.
Election uncertain
A large field of candidates is emerging to succeed Hastings in the 20th Congressional District, which takes in most of the African American and Caribbean American communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, so the winner of the party primary is virtually guaranteed to become the next member of Congress.
Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t yet set the dates for the special primary and special general elections to fill the Hastings vacancy. Holness was re-elected to the commission in 2020. Once DeSantis sets a special election date, Florida’s resign-to-run law will require Holness to submit an irrevocable resignation in order to formally qualify as a congressional candidate. DeSantis will appoint a replacement.