Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Holness campaign for Congress gets endorsement from his chief rival’s ex
Amid political alliances and rivalries, there’s an particularly personal twist to one elected official’s endorsement of Dale Holness’ congressional candidacy.
Holness lined up 10 elected officials from city and county governments in Broward to endorse him when announcing his candidacy for Congress on Monday. They included several political enemies of Barbara Sharief, one of his chief rivals in the Democratic primary that will determine the next representative in South Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
One Holness endorser stood out: Miramar City Commissioner Maxwell Chambers — Sharief ’s ex.
Chambers began his comments Monday evening by mourning the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, whose April 6 death created the opening Holness and Sharief both
want to fill.
“I’ve never seen anyone who’s more qualified now to take over from where Mr. Alcee Hastings left off. And that’s mayor, commissioner Holness,” Chambers said.
Holness spent most of 2020 as county mayor, a position that rotates among county commissioners.
“There is no better person than Mr. Holness to bring the Holy Ghost to Washington. And I’m here, Maxwell Chambers, City of Miramar, to max it out. Thank you and good evening. Congratulations my brother,” he said.
The bitter political rivalry between Holness and Sharief runs deep. Both were elected to the Broward County Commission in 2010 and still serve there. Sharief has served two terms as county mayor.
Sharief and Chambers — on the outs personally and professionally — used to describe themselves as husband and wife and had a blended family with five children. Legally they were registered as domestic partners on the county domestic partner registry. Years ago, Sharief said they’d been married outside the country, a union that wasn’t recognized in the U.S.
The couple once shared a political alliance as well. After Miramar Commissioner
Alexandra Davis lost a bitter 2014 primary race in which she tried to unseat Sharief from the County Commission, Davis was planning to run to regain her old City Commission seat.
Chambers, described at the time as Sharief’s husband, said he was going to run against Davis. Speaking about his planned battle with Davis — at Sharief ’s swearing in for the County Commission seat she held on to despite the Davis opposition — Chambers explained his challenge to Davis for the city seat this way: “We don’t play.” He also said he was running to advance his own ideas, not to retaliate against Davis for her attempt to oust Sharief.
Davis ended up instead running unsuccessfully for mayor, and Chambers won the city post.
In May 2016, Sharief wrote on Facebook that she and Chambers had decided to separate. “Max and I remain friends and will continue to support each other through this difficult time,” she wrote.
Chambers wasn’t the
only Miramar commissioner to back Holness at the Monday night endorsement. Davis, who has since won an election to return to the City Commission, also said she was supporting Holness along with Miramar Commissioner Yvette Colbourne. No date has been set for the special primary election and special general election to replace Hastings. Many current and former elected officials from Broward and Palm Beach counties are considering joining the field, with Holness and Sharief widely seen as two of the leading candidates in the 20th Congressional District.
Hours before the event, a Twitter user responding to the news that Holness was preparing to announce his candidacy offered a preview of the coming campaign: “Holness vs. Sharief in the bare knuckle boxing match of the decade…FL20 is in for a doozy.”