Ryan Nicol
Three Miramar Commission incumbents will retain their seats after Tuesday’s municipal election.
According to Tuesday’s unofficial results, Vice Mayor Maxwell Chambers and Commissioners Winston Barnes and Yvette Colbourne easily skated past their respective challenges, winning by at least 27 percentage points.
In the Seat 1 contest, Chambers faced two challengers, magazine publisher Chris Koval and Kerri-Ann Nesbeth, a director at the nonprofit EdFuel. Maxwell earned nearly 53% of the vote, followed by Nesbeth at 25% and Koval at 22%.
Chambers got himself in a bit of hot water after some military veterans criticized Chambers for wearing military clothing despite not being a veteran. Chambers caught flak for wearing a National Guard jacket bearing a first sergeant rank and combat patch.
Chambers said the outfit was a gift from a National Guard vet. “There’s veterans that gave [the jacket] to me,” Chambers told WPLG. “Every veteran is entitled to their opinion.”
Some of those opinions were decidedly negative. Still, Chambers and the other two incumbents in Tuesday’s race had strong support from Miramar’s Caribbean community.
Miramar is a majority-minority city in the southwest portion of Broward County. Around 46% of residents are Black, nearly 43% are white (including Hispanics) and 6% are Asian. Just 12.5% identify as white, non-Hispanics.
In Seat 2, Commissioner Colbourne defended her seat in a one-on-one contest against former Commissioner Darline Riggs. Colbourne topped Riggs 66%-34%, according to the unofficial results.
Riggs lost her seat on the all at-large commission in 2019. Riggs accused Colbourne, her former colleague, of being a “liar” and “extremely corrupt.” Colbourne fired back by questioning Riggs’ ethics, as well as her commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Seat 3 featured a five-way race with Commissioner Barnes retaining his seat. He’s a veteran of the City Commission, having served since 2003.
Barnes earned nearly 61% of the vote, followed by Val Glenister at 14% and Sylvia Grandberry at 11%. Nari Tomlinson secured just 9%, while Lixon Nelson earned only 6%.
