Palm Beach County commissioner Barnett gets unexpected shoutout from DeSantis at RNC

MILWAUKEE — Palm Beach County figured prominently in Gov. Ron DeSantis' remarks to the Florida delegation on Wednesday morning, with one particular county commissioner getting singular attention.

In his nearly 30-minute talk, DeSantis touted GOP gains across the state, and noted how he carried Palm Beach County by nearly 3 percentage points, 51.2% to 48.3%. He also talked about voter registrations gains in the county as Florida Republicans approach a 1 million-voter advantage, reversing a 300,000-voter deficit in 2018, headed into this November.

DeSantis then gave a shout-out to Palm Beach County Commissioner Michael Barnett, who was in the audience as a delegate.

He noted that after choosing former county Commissioner Dave Kerner to lead the state motor vehicles agency, he appointed Barnett to replace Kerner, giving the party a breakthrough majority on the panel.

"No one thought that was possible," he said. "Then I was able to put Barnett in there and we have a Republican majority."

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Barnett was elated with the mention from the governor while the audience of delegates and VIPs cheered.

"He didn't give anybody else a shoutout like that today," Barnett said, laughing.

Barnett said the GOP ranks are growing in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Tequesta, The Acreage, Loxahatchee and south county as well.

"Pockets of red springing up all over the county the last two cycles," he said.

The results are coming in, he said, citing the elections of Peggy Gossett-Seidman to the state House and Marci Woodward to the county commission. He said he plans to keep his District 3 commission seat in November.

"Now we have a red flag in Greenacres," he said. "We're going to keep the seat red. I'm working real hard to get re-elected."

He said the voter gap in District 3 is "closing." Since June of last year, he said, despite a total voter registration decline of 17,000, Republican registrations have increased by 6,210 votes, a 2.6% increase.

He said the district also has a large Hispanic population as a significant share of independent voters. Barnett said his campaign is working it hard and is counting on Trump's and DeSantis' popularity with Hispanics, especially Cuban-Americans in Palm Springs.

"We're making sure not to take anyone for granted," he said. "We're doing a great job, and I am going to win my district."

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: PBC Commissioner Michael Barnett gets shoutout from DeSantis at RNC