Kamala Harris camp taps Coral Springs Commissioner to lead Caribbean American voter push

Kamala Harris is tapping a city official in Broward County to lead her presidential campaign’s voter-engagement efforts in Florida’s Caribbean communities.

This week, Harris’ campaign appointed Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer Bowen as its Florida Caribbean Vote Director.

Metayer Bowen, the first Black and Haitian American woman to serve on the City Commission, said she is honored and excited to help amplify Caribbean American support of Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s White House bid.

“This campaign is about inclusivity and making sure that every community’s voice is heard,” she said in a statement.

Re-elected unopposed in June to the Coral Springs Commission, Metayer Bowen’s work in politics began in 2011 with back-to-back internships at the White House under Barack Obama and at former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s Tallahassee office.

Between 2014 and 2016, she managed health and relief efforts in Haiti out of Port-au-Prince before taking several successive posts in Broward government. Among them: District 1 Supervisor of the Broward Soil and Water Conservation and Community Engagement Liaison for the city of Tamarac.

She also worked for two and a half years on climate justice with the Miami nonprofit New Florida Majority before taking her current job in December 2019 as Florida Coalition Manager of NEO Philanthropy, a nonprofit formerly called Public Interest Projects that InfluenceWatch describes as a “fiscal clearinghouse for left-of-center causes.”

She also serves as Florida Coalition Manager for the National Institute for Reproductive Health’s State Infrastructure Project.

In May, Metayer Bowen co-authored an opinion column in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel delving into how Florida’s six-week abortion ban has an “outsized effect on Black Floridians.”

“We must recognize that this ban is not just a matter of policy but a profound infringement on the autonomy and dignity of those already marginalized by systemic injustices,” the article said. “As more states limit reproductive rights, we need a federal abortion rights policy.”

Metayer Bowen is already at work cultivating a stronger support base for the Harris-Walz campaign in South Florida. Last Friday, she collaborated with the Haitian-led Ayisyen Pou Harris grassroots initiative in the opening of a new campaign office in North Miami Beach.

“By fostering strong connections with community leaders, organizers, and constituents,” she told The Miami Times, “we aim to build a coalition that not only supports Harris but also champions policies that reflect the values and aspirations of the Caribbean American community.”