Four candidates face off in Broward, Palm Beach special

Voters in parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties will head to the polls again on Tuesday for a pair of special elections to fill two seats in the Florida Legislature that have been vacant since two Democratic lawmakers resigned to run for Congress.

The two general elections — which coincide with a number of municipal elections in those counties — will be for a new state representative in House District 88, a thin district that runs north to south near the coast from Riviera Beach to Delray Beach; and a new state senator in Senate District 33, which includes most of central Broward near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, northern parts of Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill and west to the Sawgrass Expressway.

Former state Rep. Omari Hardy, who represented HD 88, and Sen. Perry Thurston of SD 33, both resigned to run in a crowded Democratic primary for Florida’s 20th Congressional District to replace U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died of cancer last April. The winners in these two races will have to run again in a matter of months for the 2022 midterm cycle, with a primary set for August 23 and the general election on November 8.

As of Friday afternoon, in Palm Beach, there was a 9.2% voter turnout, with almost 32,000 mail ballots and about 1,000 early votes. In Broward, the turnout was about 8.6%, with 34,000 ballots and 528 early votes.

Senate District 33

The candidates for Senate District 33 are Rosalind Osgood, the CEO of a social service agency who won the January primary with more than 74% of the vote, and Republican Joseph Cecil Carter, a Fort Lauderdale native and former Broward County Public Schools teacher.

Carter did not respond to requests from the Herald to comment for this story.

Osgood, a 56-year-old community activist, is also an associate minister at the New Mount Olive Baptist Church and recently resigned as chair of the School Board of Broward County. She made headlines last year as her school board defied Gov. Ron DeSantis when he sought to ban mask mandates in schools and threatened school board members and superintendents with deducting their pay.

Because the winner in this race would be elected at the end of the 2022 legislative session, Osgood said she wants to prioritize building relationships and preparing for a potential special session, if it were to arise, to spearhead issues on elder care and education.

“We continue to see policy after policy that results in costs for school districts,” said Osgood, referring to the state’s targeting of school districts that challenged DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates in schools. “Those are all things that will disrupt the public education and ultimately defund it.”

Carter, on the other hand, said during an interview with WPLG Local 10 News last month that he felt Broward’s move to institute a mask mandate was “irresponsible” and “a political move to start an argument with the governor.”

Osgood, who is herself a Broward native, had an unconventional path into politics. Thirty-two years ago, she struggled with homelessness and drug addiction, until she sought rehab treatment and community services to get her life back on track.

“That’s why I’m so invested in community,” she said. “The services that were available that helped me recover and get my life back.”

On his website, Carter says that he decided to run because he feels his community has long been represented by politicians who are not paying attention to the needs of the community. He lists school choice, creating more partnerships between trade schools and education centers with local businesses, and access to affordable healthcare as his top issues.

Osgood said she wanted more access to capital for small businesses and small nonprofit organizations to expand and hire more local employees. Part of that plan, she said, was to have more representation in economic committees in the Legislature.

“I’m very interested in participating on the insurance and banking committees because as we think about the economy and building wealth in various communities, we have to be intentional about it and having voices at the table that’s going to represent that,” said Osgood.

House District 88

The candidates for Broward’s HD 88 are Republican Guarina Torres, a retired Palm Beach County Schools teacher, and Democrat Jervonte “Tae” Edmonds, the CEO of Suits for Seniors, a nonprofit organization that provides career and life mentorship for high school seniors.

Torres, a 74-year-old who lives in Delray Beach, said she decided to run for office because she is concerned about an undercurrent of what she said was socialism and Marxism around the country and could “no longer sit on the sidelines” — especially after Hardy, the former Florida lawmaker, left his seat to run for Congress.

“The reason why he did that, like most everybody who has been in that office … it’s been used as a steppingstone to further their own political gain instead of representing the people who’ve elected them to go to Tallahassee,” said Torres, who has taught throughout Palm Beach County for 28 years.

Torres, who also taught classes for the U.S. citizenship test to immigrants in her county, said she’s worried about shootings and homelessness in her neighborhoods and thinks not enough is being done to connect people in her district to the resources they need.

“A lot of things are swept under the rug,” she said. “Everyone comes here for the opportunity to prosper and grow and have families that they can be proud of and they can aspire to be whatever they want regardless of where they come from and to try to instill here what people are trying to get away from.”

Edmonds, 30, is a former legislative assistant to Sen. Bobby Powell. Edmonds said his priority is to tackle housing in his district, something he said he wants to accomplish by giving developers some additional tax breaks as an incentive to build affordable homes.

On education, he said he would support starting access to trade programs for teens starting in 8th grade and building a state entity specifically to get more young people into trade programs.

“I’ve always been very focused in on education, economics and criminal justice,” said Edmonds. He added that he believed many people in his district were concerned about access to clean water and voting rights, saying the proposed law enforcement force that would focus on certain cases of election fraud was “the greatest waste of taxpayers’ dollars.”

Torres, meanwhile, said she agreed with DeSantis’ policies, including his decision to ban mask mandates in schools.

“I personally agree with Ron DeSantis’ policies, I believe it should be a personal choice, i don’t think it should be mandated,” she said. But Torres acknowledged the importance of having the state government work closely with local governments.

“I think that the most important thing is to work with the local agencies to figure out what the issues are,” she said.

This story was originally published March 4, 2022 7:13 PM.

Bianca Padró Ocasio is a political writer for the Miami Herald. She has been a Florida journalist for four years, covering everything from crime and courts to hurricanes and politics.