History beckons Jamaican-American politician

A Jamaica-born candidate running in the primary election in South Florida could make history today.

Dale Holness, a Jamaica-born South Florida politician could emerge victorious in today’s primary election to fill the 20th Congressional District seat left vacant by the death of the former office holder, Alcee Hastings

The Democratic stronghold seat is favoured to remain Democratic after today’s primary and the special election slated for January 11. The seat is considered the second safest Democratic seat in the state of Florida.

There are some 11 candidates running to fill the vacancy.

Whoever wins the primary is a shoo-in to win the special election, and any number of firsts could emerge after today’s primary.

A woman could win becoming the first female to hold the seat. If any of the two Haitian candidates win, it would mark the first Haitian to sit in the US Congress, while if the Bahamian candidate wins, he would become the first person with Bahamian roots to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

Voter turnout is expected to be low. Already, reports are that the turnout for early voting was extremely low, while mail-in votes are also running very low.

The congressional district has a population of over 700,000 people. Blacks make up just over 52 per cent of the population with whites making up about 40 per cent. The district has the largest population of Jamaicans in South Florida, taking in Broward County and Palm Beach County.

Speaking with The Gleaner, the chair of the Caribbean Black Caucus, Jamaican Corey Shearer, acknowledged that the field was a crowded one.

“A candidate for Congressional District 20 has to be strong on issues and be prepared for gruelling travel. A South Florida Congress person has to represents a diverse constituency from many countries and have an understanding of issues that affect the area, including the Caribbean and Latin America,” he said.

He said that in the end, the voters will decide.

Describing the upcoming primary vote as a historical moment, Shearer said that a lot could happened. The winning candidate can give voice to people who think that they did not have a voice. He further pointed out that there are a lot of missed opportunities to get behind one candidate because everyone thinks its their turn, hence 11 candidates are vying for the seat.

Sonia Nelson, secretary of the Democratic Party in Palm Beach County, said that the victorious candidate will have to carry the mantle of former Congressman Hastings.

“It is a wide open seat and anyone can win. A number of firsts could emerge following the vote,” she said.

Nelson, who is Jamaican, noted that there are few people voting as the turnout is expected to be low.

She further pointed out that whoever wins today’s primary and the special election on January 11 will serve only one year, and will have to run in the mid-term elections of November 2022.

Glen Joseph, president of the Democratic Caucus of Florida, said it is unfortunate that there are so many candidates running for the seat.

“You have to have a coherent strategy in relation to leadership. People are running mainly because of egos and this dilutes the vote,” he said.

He said that each candidate thinks he/she is the best person for the job because they see it as status.

According to community leader Dr Allan Cunningham, there are so many candidates running because everybody wants an opportunity to lead.

He said that the turnout in early voting was very low, and it is expected that turnout today will also be low.

Cunningham pointed out that the community has an opportunity to elect the first Jamaica-born person to the US House of Representatives. His hope is that this will happen after all the votes have been counted.