Former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief will compete in the General Election for the soon-vacant Senate District 35 seat after defeating a pair of Democratic Primary opponents Tuesday.
All sought to succeed term-limited Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, whom Sharief challenged unsuccessfully two years ago.
With 96 of 97 precincts reporting at 8:40 p.m., Sharief had 46.5% of the vote to clinch a spot on the Nov. 5 ballot. Runner-up Chad Klitzman, a lawyer, took 35% of the vote. Third-place Rodney Jacobs captured the remaining share.
Sharief will now compete with unopposed Republican candidate Vincent Parlatore in the runup to the General, and it's her race to lose; Democrats are favored in SD 35, where the party's 2022 U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates, Val Demings and Charlie Crist, won there with 55% and 53% of votes, respectively.
A doctor of nursing, Sharief ran on a platform prioritizing health care, including restoring funding for HIV and AIDS support programs and improving access to health services. She also promised to work one making voting access easier, strengthening education, protecting water quality in Florida, job creation, supporting affordable housing programs and protecting the state's environmental resources.
Sharief was a Broward County Commissioner from 2010 to 2021, serving as Mayor from 2013 to 2014 and 2016 to 2017. During her 2022 Primary challenge against Book, she sued the incumbent for falsity, libel and defamation. The case is still pending, court documents show.
She did similarly this cycle, filing suit against Jacobs last month for campaign texts implying she and her health care company defrauded Medicaid.
But Sharief has also been the target of criticism recently after photos surfaced last week of a campaign volunteer handing out SD 35 voter guides that featured her as the only Democratic candidate in the contest.
Klitzman, a lawyer and the youngest person in the race, entered the contest in October with the aim to "shake things up in Tallahassee."
He brought ample government internship experience into the race, including stints during ex-President Barack Obama's administration with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Highway Administration and White House's Office of Management and Administration.
In the lead-up to the Primary, Klitzman was the target of attack mailers traceable to Jacobs' campaign alleging that he was responsible for more than $1 million in donations his former law firm gave to Republicans, including Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio.
He argued he had no control over where lawyers of the firm donated money. Klitzman, who is Jewish, also said one of the mailers invoked an antisemitic trope by portraying him as a puppet master looming over the three men as $100 bills rained down behind him.
Jacobs entered the SD 35 race in September 2023. He serves as Executive Director of Miami's Civilian Investigative Panel, a police watchdog organization that reviews complaints about police officers. With a win this year, he hoped to add to a record of public service that includes his command as captain of a U.S. Army Reserve battalion.
His campaign this year marked his first run at public office, but he made significant fundraising strides as Tuesday approached.
Through Aug. 15, Jacobs raised more than $99,000 through his campaign account and another $426,500 via his political committee, A New Hope for Tomorrow. He spent nearly all of it on the contest.
That placed him just behind Sharief, who spent just under $547,000. She added less than $81,000 in outside donations during the race, pouring nearly $450,000 worth of self-loans into her campaign, including $89,000 in the Primary's closing weeks.
Klitzman was no slouch either. He raised more than $157,000 in outside donations through his campaign account, plus $103,000 of his own money (though he spent little of that sum). His PC, Future of Broward Inc., collected nearly $214,000 more.
He spent just under $349,000 in total through Aug. 15.
In all, the three candidates spent nearly $1.34 million on the Primary.
SD 35 spans a large area of Broward, including Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, Davie, Hollywood, Southwest Ranches and Miramar.
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Robert Haughn and Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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