Two former friends are now rivals for open Broward County Commission seat

When Bobby DuBose got elected state Representative in 2014, he recruited a three-time County Commission candidate to run for his seat on the Fort Lauderdale City Commission.

Now, that candidate, Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Robert McKinzie, has outraised DuBose and outspent him as the two battle for an open seat on the Broward County Commission.

And DuBose told the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board he wishes he’d never backed McKinzie 12 years ago.

“When you make a mistake, the best thing to do is to be man enough to say, ‘You know what? I made a mistake,’” DuBose told the editorial board.

DuBose, McKinzie and community organizer Aude Sicard are Democrats vying to fill the seat being vacated by Jared Moskowitz. Moskowitz was was appointed to fill that seat when Barbara Sharief resigned to run for Congress last year. It’s a majority-minority district with pockets of poverty critics say have been neglected.

McKinzie came to the race with a good deal more money: $151,500. He was able to raise $118,095 more and spend $187,807.

That’s more than twice DuBose’s spending, which hit $84,000 total in the campaign, as of Aug. 5.

So, McKinzie could afford a lot more mailers. And county records show he did.

He dropped $80,000 to LLC Emblem Marketing Solution for a full-page mailer and postage in the last month of campaigning.

DuBose, by contrast, spent nearly $40,000 with National Campaign Branding Company in Hollywood for mailers.

Meanwhile, Sicard was a distant third in the money race for the seat. She raised $36,000 for her campaign.

The Sun-Sentinel lauded DuBose’s achievements in the Legislature such as championing compensation for those wrongfully imprisoned, for example. But the endorsement ultimately went to McKinzie for his grasp of local issues and what special knowledge he could bring for curing the housing affordability crisis because he’s a home builder. McKinzie also won a nod from the Broward Teachers Union.

DuBose received endorsements from the Broward Young Democrats, Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors and the Dolphin Democrats and Equality Florida, both LGBTQ political groups.

The seat represents parts of Coconut Creek, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Margate, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Tamarac, Wilton Manors and parts of unincorporated Broward County.