Steve Geller is running for Broward sheriff. It’s not the Steve Geller you’ve heard of.

Steve Geller, a candidate with a well known name in the county, announced Thursday that he’s running for Broward Sheriff.

The newly announced candidate isn’t that Steve Geller.

Rather he’s the doppelganger of County Commissioner Steve Geller, who has won many primaries and general elections in Broward County since his first, in 1988.

“I think he’s got a good name,” said Geller (the commissioner.) He is “Steven A. Geller” on his campaign paperwork.

“I think we’re both doing our names very proud,” said Geller (the candidate for sheriff). He is “Steven Andrew Geller” on his paperwork.

Sheriff

Geller (the freshly minted candidate) brings decades of law enforcement experience — he started with the Plantation Police Department in 1991 — to his first-ever run for office, in which he’s challenging Sheriff Gregory Tony in the August 2024 Democratic primary.

Candidates don’t qualify for the Aug. 20, 2024, primary ballot until next spring. The paperwork he filed Thursday allows him to raise and spend money as a candidate. So far, Tony is running, as is David Howard, who also has a law enforcement background.

Broward is so overwhelmingly Democratic that winning the August primary is tantamount to winning the office. (In the last two elections, the Democratic candidate finished 40 points ahead of the Republican.)

“I am ready and eager to lead the Broward County Sheriff’s office into the future: the era of safety, accountability and trust. My campaign is built on the foundation of strong ethics and morals. As a lifelong advocate for justice and fairness I have dedicated my career to upholding the law and protecting the rights of all citizens,” Geller said Thursday outside the Broward County Governmental Center, immediately after he filed paperwork with the Supervisor of Elections Office.

“The principles of integrity, transparency and respect for human rights should guide all of law enforcement, ” he said. “I am committed to building a sheriff’s office that enforces the law, that fosters positive relationships in the community, an agency that helps those in their darkest hour.”

At the Plantation Police Department, Geller was a patrol officer, school resource officer at South Plantation High School, and a major case detective and a captain supervising a range of units. After retiring from the Police Department, he went to work as a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 2020.

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His last day at FDLE was Sept. 5. Geller said the agency determined he couldn’t continue in the job while running for sheriff.

As sheriff, he said he would emphasize proactive policing, intelligence-led investigations, community partnerships, and improved transparency and communication, and better training and supervision of deputies, firefighters, and 911 dispatchers.

“I’ve been there at night doing night patrols while people were sleeping, keeping people safe. I’ve done crisis response team roles in which I’ve been there for people who are going through mental health crises. I’ve served in many different capacities in law enforcement. I would put my attributes and my accomplishments up against anybody else,” he said.

Geller, 55, said he is a lifelong Democrat. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Albany and a master’s in public administration from Florida Atlantic University. He and his wife live in Weston, and they have two adult children.

Tony and Israel

The sheriff is the highest-profile, most powerful elected official in Broward County — and the sheriffs have often been highly controversial.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Tony in January 2019 at the same time he suspended then-Sheriff Scott Israel. Tony was elected to a full term the next year.

During the 2020 campaign, and since, Tony faced scrutiny for not divulging to DeSantis and on police applications that he shot and killed an 18-year-old man in 1993 when he was a teenager living in a tough neighborhood in Philadelphia. Tony said it was self-defense for which he was absolved of responsibility.

In proceedings that are pending, the Florida Commission on Ethics has found probable cause to pursue a case into Tony, finding that there were lies and omissions on forms that led him to his first police job in Coral Springs.

Based on the publicly known facts, Geller said DeSantis should suspend Tony. “Yes, I believe based on everything that I do know that, yes, he should be suspended.”

When DeSantis suspended Israel, a decision upheld by the Florida Senate, he cited incompetence and neglect of duty in connection with the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre and the 2017 shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Geller said DeSantis shouldn’t have suspended Israel.

“I believe Sheriff Israel, if he were to be removed, it should have been by the public and the public only. I believe that the government intervention at that point was not necessary. I believe the community members should have made that decision,” he said.

The Geller name

The other Geller has been elected to the state House of Representatives, the state Senate, where he served as Democratic Party leader, and twice to the County Commission — usually winning by double digits. If he’s reelected next year, term limits would prevent him from running again.

The Geller who’s currently in elected office said he’s seen the other Geller at functions where “he introduced himself as, ‘Hi, I’m the other Steve Geller.”

If a Democrat challenges the commissioner in the August 2024 primary, both Gellers will be on the ballot at the same time.

“If I get an opponent, it could certainly have an effect on both of our races,” Geller said. “Nothing I could do to prevent it. He didn’t ask me, ‘Do you mind if I run?’ I don’t think he needs permission to use my name when it’s his name.”

With a few exceptions involving a few incumbents who he’s known for years and aren’t likely to have serious opposition, the commissioner isn’t making any primary endorsements — including in the sheriff’s race — until he knows if he’s going to have a contested primary of his own next year.

The sheriff candidate said having the same last name as the commissioner “will definitely be an asset to me. But I believe that it’s up to me to be sure that I make my own name for myself and that I differentiate the position that I’m running for so that an uneducated voter will know that there are two of us.”

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Facebook, Threads.net and Post.news.