FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Dale Holness, who lost his campaign for Congress last year by just five votes, said Saturday he’s running again.
His campaign against Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has been expected since she defeated him in the Nov. 2 Democratic congressional primary to replace the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings.
On Nov. 29, Holness filed paperwork showing he was raising money for another congressional bid.
On Saturday, he made a formal “announcement” — a day after the third-place finisher in last year’s congressional primary, Barbara Sharief, said she would run in a primary for the state Senate and not make another run for Congress.
“Families are hurting these days as the costs of everyday necessities — including housing, childcare, healthcare, gas, and groceries — continue to rise but wages fail to keep up,” Holness said in a statement. “Our communities deserve a champion with experience and follow-through to build a stronger, healthier future for all of us.”
His campaign said “voters are feeling fatigued with some candidates and incumbents overpromising and under-delivering.”
Holness said some prominent political supporters — Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, and Broward Clerk of Courts Brenda Forman — would join him at a campaign kickoff Tuesday.
Mitch Ceasar, a former Broward Democratic Party chairman who serves as a legal counsel to the Cherfilus-McCormick campaign, said she is concentrating on her congressional duties and not focused on Holness.
“His reentry was not unexpected, and right now the congresswoman is more concerned with dealing with the problems of her constituents,” Caesar said. “She is very busy doing her job, and frankly is less concerned about minor political ups and downs.”
He cited last week’s events, which included a forum at the Pride Center in Wilton Manors about the rise in antisemitism and violence against minorities and work on Haitian migrants.
Cherfilus-McCormick also met with about 150 Haitian detainees at the Broward Transitional Center to learn about the conditions there.
She called on the Biden administration to rescind the federal policy that allows for the expulsion of immigrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a policy that has been used to expel Haitians in the U.S. despite ongoing violence and the prospect of persecution if forced to return.
Cherfilus-McCormick is the first Haitian American Democrat elected to Congress. Holness is Jamaican American.
Political landscape
The 2021 special electron was fiercely fought, and the 2022 contest will be as well. But the Aug. 22 primary, in which candidates will be seeking the Democratic nomination for a full two-year term, will be different from last year’s special election.
—The special primary election occurred at a time when elections aren’t usually held, and with no other races on the ballot. The August 2022 primary will be held at the same time as the party primary to nominate a candidate for governor, a contest that could produce a much higher voter turnout than the Nov. 2 special primary.
—The presence of the primaries for governor, along with congressional, state legislative and county posts, will make it much more difficult for any candidate in a single race for Congress to attract as much attention as they did when nothing else was on the ballot. All that political noise also will make it more expensive for candidates to reach a potentially larger pool of voters.
—Cherfilus-McCormick will be running as an incumbent.
—The field of candidates will almost certainly be much smaller than the 11 who sought the Democratic nomination in 2021.
—The boundaries of the district will be different to reflect population changes uncovered in the 2020 Census and the addition of an additional congressional district in Florida. No one knows what territory will be in each district because the governor and Legislature haven’t agreed on new maps.
Still, the voter registration in Broward and Palm Beach counties makes it almost certain the Democratic nominee will win the general election.
The 20th District currently stretches from Miramar in southwest Broward to Riviera Beach in northeastern Palm Beach County, and includes most of the African American and Caribbean American communities in the two counties.
The candidates
Cherfilus-McCormick had never held elected office before winning the special general election in January. She is a lawyer and was chief executive of her family’s Trinity Healthcare Services, a home health care company based in Miramar.
She set her sights on the congressional seat years ago, challenging Hastings in the 2018 and 2020 Democratic primaries.
Holness was a Broward County Commissioner from November 2010 through January of this year. In that role, he served a year as county mayor. He was previously a Lauderhill city commissioner. He is a real estate broker.
