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FLArmenians Elections Center: 2022 Special & Municipal Election Endorsements in South Florida
BOCA RATON, FL – Florida Armenians is pleased to announce our endorsements for the upcoming 2022 special and municipal elections taking place in Broward and Palm Beach Counties on March 8, 2022.
SPECIAL ELECTIONS: STATE SENATE & STATE HOUSE
Senate District 33 (SD-33)
- Rosalind Osgood (D)
House District 88 (HD-88)
- Jervonte “Tae” Edmonds (D)
House District 94 (HD-94)
- Daryl Campbell (D) (unopposed)
Daryl Campbell won the Democrat Party’s primary election on January 11, 2022 and since no Republican filed to run Campbell was automatically elected to the HD-94 State House seat.
BROWARD COUNTY MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
Hillsboro Beach
- Commissioner At-Large: Jane Reiser
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea
- Commission District 2: Randy Strauss
Lighthouse Point
- Commission District 1: Patty Petrone
- Commission District 2: Troy Ganter
- Commission District 3: Jason Joffe
Pembroke Pines
- Commission District 1: Thomas “Tom” Good
- Commission District 4: Angelo Castillo
PALM BEACH COUNTY MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
Boynton Beach
- Mayor: Ty Penserga
- Commission District 1: Angela Cruz
- Commissioner District 3: Marit Hedeen
Greenacres
- Council District 2: Nathan Galang
- Council District 3: Judy Dugo
- Council District 4: Suzy Diaz
Lake Worth Beach
- Commission District 4: Craig Frost
Jupiter
- Mayor: Ilan Kaufer
- Council District 1: Cheryl Schneider
North Palm Beach
- Council Group 1: Deborah Searcy
- Council Group 3: Darryl Aubrey
- Council Group 5: Mark Mullinix
Wellington
- Council Seat 2: Tanya Siskind
- Council Seat 3: John T. McGovern
West Palm Beach
- Commission District 1: Cathleen Ward
- Commission District 3: Christy Fox (unopposed)
- Commission District 5: Christina Lambert (unopposed)
Municipal elections in the State of Florida are non-partisan. If you’re interested in learning more about the candidates, FLArmenians encourages you to visit the candidate websites and learn more about each candidate on the ballot in your area. Also, The Palm Beach Post’s Hannah Morse has an excellent article breaking down of all the races in Palm Beach County with details on early voting locations and additional background on the candidates.
For specific information about voting, such as registering, changing party affiliation, updating address records, and more, please visit the Broward County Supervisor of Elections website and the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website.
Additional endorsements may be added.
Florida Armenians Endorsed Candidates Win Big on Election Day
BOCA RATON, FL – Florida Armenians is pleased to announce that our endorsed candidates from the 2021 election cycle won their elections.
In the City of Miami Beach, Commissioner Mark Samuelian won his re-election without opposition. Samuelian is the only Armenian American elected government official in the State of Florida and was the first Armenian to win an election in Miami-Dade County when he was elected to the City Commission in 2019 with Florida Armenians endorsement. In 2020, the City of Miami beach passed a resolution introduced by Commissioner Samuelian officially recognizing the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
Florida Armenians endorsed Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber in 2021, as we did in 2019, and he won his contested election with 62% of the vote, securing a third, two-year term.
2022 Special & Municipal Elections
Following the death of Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) on April 6, 2021, a special election to fill the vacant Florida Congressional District 20 seat was held on January 11, 2022. Hastings was a founding member of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, a group of Members of Congress interested in Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority dictatorship neighboring the Republic of Armenia in the South Caucasus that has enlisted Afghan and Syrian/ISIS terrorist mercenaries to kill Christian Armenians in wars it launched against Armenia in 1994 and 2020, respectively. Hastings, who broke with his party’s leadership in siding with the genocidal Azerbaijani and Turkish regimes, repeatedly opposed U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, despite Armenian Americans’ deep relationships with African Americans and relatable struggles as a minority community often subject to similar discrimination and prejudice.
The deep blue FL-20 Congressional seat saw eleven Democrats run to replace Hastings in the Democrat primary election held on November 2, 2021. Broward County lawyer and health care executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick defeated the Hastings-endorsed candidate, Broward County Commissioner Dale Holeness, by five votes.
Florida Armenians did not offer an endorsement in the FL-20 special election, but looks forward to working with Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), the first Haitian American Representative from Florida, in the months and years ahead.
The FL-20 Congressional district seat vacancy set off a domino effect as many local elected officials vied for the open seat. Florida is one of five states with a “resign-to-run” law, which prohibits a current office holder from running for a different seat without first resigning the seat they hold, should the terms of the current office held overlap with the office sought.
In addition to Commissioner Holeness, Florida State Reps. Omari Hardy (D-FL-88) and Bobby DuBose (D-FL-94) resigned their West Palm Beach-based and Ft. Lauderdale-based State House seats, respectively, in order to run for Congress in the vacant FL-20. Florida State Senator Perry Thurston (D-FL-33) also resigned his northwest Ft. Lauderdale-based State Senate seat in order to seek the vacant FL-20 Congressional seat.
A special election for the FL-33 State Senate, FL-88 and FL-94 State House seats has been scheduled take place on March 8, 2022, which is when Palm Beach County & Broward County will hold municipal elections.
Florida Armenians will release our slate of endorsed 2022 South Florida special election and municipal candidates in the coming days as early voting begins in Palm Beach County on February 12th.
For more information about municipal elections in South Florida please visit the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website and Broward County Supervisor of Elections website.
Nineteen (19) Palm Beach County municipalities will hold elections on March 8, 2022, they are: Boynton Beach, Greenacres, Haverhill, Highland Beach, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Lake Clarke Shores, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Loxahatchee Groves, North Palm Beach, Pahokee, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach, South Palm Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach.
Six (6) Broward County municipalities will hold elections on March 8, 2022, there are: Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Lazy Lake, Lighthouse Point, Pembroke Pines, and Sea Ranch Lakes.
Municipal elections in Florida are non-partisan.
Florida Elected Officials Respond to White House Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Earlier today, President Joe Biden became the first U.S. President to properly recognize the World War I era mass killings of Armenians and other Christians by the Ottoman Turkish Empire as genocide.
“Today is #ArmenianGenocide Remembrance Day, commemorating the 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred in 1915 by the Ottomans, & today @POTUS has made history by becoming the first President to recognize it. This is a major step toward Armenians getting the justice they deserve,” Congresswoman Lois Frankel (D-FL) said on Twitter. Earlier this week, Frankel was one of three Florida Representatives to sign a letter to President Biden urging him to recognize the Armenian Genocide on April 24th.
“It has been more than 100 years since the atrocities committed against innocent Armenians and other ethnic and religious minorities at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire’s genocidal campaign from 1915-1923 killed 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children, as well as Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs, through a series of executions and death marches,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), who serves as Co-Chairman of the Congressional Armenian Caucus. “I whole-heartedly welcome today’s historic announcement from President Biden formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide. I have been a major supporter of recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s atrocious acts as genocide, co-authoring the Armenian Genocide recognition resolution passed by the House of Representatives two years ago. We must acknowledge the atrocities of the past so that we might hopefully prevent them in the future. Our darkest moments as a human race have come during times when those who knew better stood silently, making excuses for passivity and allowing injustice and persecution to reign. Today at 2:30 p.m. I spoke with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia George Kent who confirmed the Administration’s announcement today acknowledging the pain of history to ensure future atrocities do not happen,” Bilirakis said on Saturday.
Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), an active member of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, issued a statement on Twitter, saying “I commend @POTUS Biden for officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Yet over a century later some still minimize the Ottoman Empire’s systematic execution of Armenians. We must honor the victims & survivors, & we must keep its memory alive to prevent history from repeating.”
“President Joe Biden’s deceptively simple action goes beyond what any previous American president has ever been willing to do. The evidence, however, is clear the Turks engaged in a years-long ethnic cleansing campaign that included forced death marches and mass starvation. Recognizing this fact will, hopefully, bring an element of closure to this chapter of history for families impacted by these atrocities,” Palm Beach County Commissioner Robert Weinroth (D-FL) told FLArmenians.com.
Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer told FLArmenians.com, “The White House’s recognition today of the Armenian Genocide is an important step to honor the memory of the many who were killed. To prevent future tragedies, we must never forget those that occurred,” Mayor Singer said. Boca Raton, FL is the second largest city in Palm Beach County and is home to St. David Armenian Church, the first Armenian Church built in Florida and consecrated in 1989.
Responding to the news, Mark Samuelian, Miami Beach City Commissioner told FLArmenians.com, “Having recently visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, President Biden’s historic announcement today delivers profound meaning.” Elected in 2017, Samuelian is the first Armenian American elected official in Miami-Dade County, FL.
*This post was updated on Thursday, April 29, 2021 to reflect the new statements. FLArmenians.com will continue to update this post with new statements from Florida elected officials.
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