Broward Democrats could be headed toward another messy, expensive Florida Senate primary

Democrats could, once again, end up with a costly and divisive primary for Florida Senate next year in a reprise of the highly contentious 2022 contest that left deep wounds in Broward that some are still nursing.

Already running is Barbara Sharief, who was one of two combatants in last year’s highly contentious and expensive Democrat-versus-Democrat contest.

Sharief’s supporters, along with some Democratic Party leaders, hope she doesn’t face a significant primary challenge. Their view is that primaries drain resources and that Democrats’ energy and money should be conserved to battle Republicans in November, not fight one another in August.

“Nasty primaries don’t help the Democrats,” said state Democratic Chair Nikki Fried.

A Broward resident before she was elected in 2018 for a term as state agriculture commissioner, Fried is familiar with the dynamics of last year’s primary faceoff between Sharief and Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book.

“It was very expensive. The last primary tore apart the Broward community and used resources that probably could have been (better used) turning out the vote in the general election,” she said.

As party chair, she said she isn’t involved in primaries, but shared her general thoughts. “Primaries are great tools to weed out unqualified candidates to make sure there is a vetting process for their records, and I would never discourage anyone from running for office,” Fried said. But, she added, “where there is the possibility to allocate resources in other areas that Democrats don’t have a strong hold on, it will always be a preference to allocate resources in other parts of the state.”

Fried lost a hotly contested Democratic primary for governor in 2022 to Charlie Crist, who went on to lose the November election to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Primaries, like the 2022 Book-Sharief contest drawing “a significant amount of financial resources,” Fried said, and “because our primary season is so late, it is harder for the party to turn back around and mount formidable campaigns in a general election.”

Palm Beach County

That approach — avoiding internal conflict — appears to be working in connection with a Palm Beach County state Senate seat.

County Commissioner Mack Bernard announced this week he would run for the seat currently held by state Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach. Powell, who is term-limited, said he would run for Bernard’s seat on the Palm Beach County Commission.

Bernard is term-limited as well, so the two are hoping to swap jobs.

As part of the reshuffling, the Florida Politics website reported that state Rep. David Silvers, D-Lake Clarke Shores, who was contemplating running for the Senate seat, would wait until 2026 and run in a different Senate district. Silvers can’t seek reelection to the House next year because of term limits.

By holding off, Silvers avoids the prospect of a money draining, tension-inducing 2024 primary brawl in District 24, which is almost entirely east of Florida’s Turnpike from Hypoluxo Road on the south to PGA Boulevard on the north.

Broward County

Democratic leaders who would like to avoid a Broward primary may not get their wish.

At least two prominent Democrats are eyeing the 35th state Senate District, most of which is south of Interstate 595 and west of Florida’s Turnpike.

Like Palm Beach County’s District 24, Broward’s District 35 is especially appealing for candidates because it is open with no incumbent. Book, the incumbent who defeated Sharief in 2022, is prevented by term limits from running again.

The district is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the August 2024 primary is the likely winner of the November election. Voter registration figures show 42.5% of the district’s voters are Democrats, 23% are Republicans, 32.9% are no party affiliation/independents and 1.6% are in minor parties.

State Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, said she isn’t focusing on the potential Senate race right now. “People are asking me,” she said. “Anything is possible.”

“I have to make a decision about what’s best for me, what’s best for my constituents,” Bartleman said. “I just want to make sure that we keep Broward County (Democratic) blue, and that’s going to be my focus,” something she said may entail running for reelection. “I need to keep my district blue.”

State Rep. Marie Woodson, D-Hollywood, said she might run for Senate.

“A lot of people in the community are reaching out,” Woodson said. “I’m looking at the seat. I’m doing my homework. … Right now my options are open.”

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One thing is certain, Woodson said: She and Bartleman won’t both be candidates at the same time. “Should Robin Bartleman decide to jump in, I’ll support her. She is my colleague,” Woodson said. “We did talk about it, that neither one of us would run against each other.”

Bartleman said she is “good friends” with Woodson. “We’ve talked about the seat.”

Woodson and Bartleman are in their second terms in the House, and could run for reelection in 2024 and 2026 before term limits would affect them.

Chad Klitzman, who narrowly lost the 2020 Democratic primary for Broward supervisor of elections, said he is considering running for the Senate seat and would make a decision at the end of the summer or early fall.

State Sen. Jason Pizzo, who represents most of east Broward and part of Miami-Dade County, succeeds Book as Senate Democratic leader after the 2024 elections.

In that role, he is responsible for trying to increase the party’s ranks. Pizzo said he isn’t trying to recruit candidates in the 35th District.

He said he’s talked with Bartleman, Woodson — and Sharief — about it.

“I’m just very honest with people,” he said, explaining that anyone who runs against Sharief would face a formidable opponent. “She can probably spend $1 million. I make people aware of that.”

He also praised Bartleman and Woodson. “It’s a bittersweet problem that we have, that we have great political candidates.”

Hard-fought contest

Pizzo was among the Democratic leaders who were furious with Sharief last year, and said in the immediate aftermath that he would support Woodson in 2024.

Book is the current Senate Democratic leader and was a sitting senator running for a final term before term limits. Because she had a primary with Sharief last year, she had to spend money and time on her own reelection contest in Broward County, rather than travel the state campaigning and raising money for other Democrats. Book supporters thought Sharief should have waited until 2024, because the seat would come open because of term limits.

The result of the primary was “dollars spent unnecessarily and it was the opportunity cost of not having Lauren able to raise dollars for other races, and the availability to be out on the road,” Pizzo said.

Though Book and Sharief are both Democrats, the August election — though held at primary time — was open to all voters, regardless of party, because no Republican or independent ran for the seat.

Sharief — a former Broward County commissioner whose colleagues twice elected her to serve as county mayor and former Miramar city commissioner —received 39.7% of the vote to 60.3% for Book. Three weeks later, Sharief said she would run again in 2024.

State Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Fort Lauderdale, conspicuously stayed out of the Book-versus-Sharief contest when most other Democratic senators endorsed the incumbent.

She endorsed Sharief this week and said people should move on from the 2022 race.

“I think the Democratic Party right now needs to strategize and focus on getting Democrats elected and using our resources to get Democrats elected,” Osgood said. “We need to be building, not dividing ourselves.”

Like Fried, she said anyone who wants to run should do so, but she doesn’t like the notion of recruiting candidates to oppose Sharief because she ran against Book.

“I’d prefer not to see an organized primary where you have a group of Democrats finding a Democrat to run against a Democrat,” Osgood said. “We can’t do revenge politics. When I run and I have an opponent, when the race ends, no matter what happens, I move on.”

Osgood, who is Black, said the candidacy of Sharief, who is Black, provides an opportunity for Broward to field a more diverse delegation in Tallahassee. “Look at the population and how it is blackening and browning.”

Broward’s population is 33.6% white, 32% Hispanic and 30.6% Black, Census data shows. Three of the four state Senate districts that include all are parts of Broward that have white senators.

“Here is the bigger picture: We’re in a very hostile political environment with a lot of cultural wars. African Americans are a large part of the Democratic Party. African American women are the backbone of the Democratic Party,” Osgood said. “African Americans are not going to continue to sit on the sidelines.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com, on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.