Opinion

Fort Lauderdale rejects Barbra Stern. It's time to move on.

November 7, 2024
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After Tuesday's election results, Fort Lauderdale is ready to move on. But, Barbra Stern is not. After being defeated by incumbent Mayor Dean Trantalis, Stern has already filed paperwork to run for the office again in 2028. Rejected by voters, Stern is still on the move. Some folks make the argument that Trantalis, who received the support of 38% of the electorate, was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. Well, the same could be said for Stern. If 62% of voters cast a ballot against Trantalis, that means 67% of voters rejected Stern. It doesn't make sense to assume that all the other candidates' votes would all go to Stern. A great many of them would switch to Trantalis, as many of those voters may dislike Stern more. Those candidates worked for their votes, knocking on doors and dragging people to the polls. However, that is in the realm of speculation. We will never know, and it makes no difference at this junction.

However, a win is a win, and the winners are Trantalis, Glassman, and Sorensen. Herbst won as well. In the city commission races, the wins were convincing. Glassman very easily swept his district, winning every precinct. Voters in his district rejected the attacks and vitriol directed against him. Blamed for overdevelopment, flooding, and infrastructure issues, it made little difference in the district. Sorensen ousted Warren Sturman, winning every precinct. Sturman came in a distant third as the incumbent. That's embarrassing. Sturman's campaign was dead from the start, and I recognized that. Sorensen, who masters retail politics and is very well-liked finished far ahead of all his opponents, with 40% of the vote in a four-way race.

I predicted these results to the percentage. It wasn't that difficult. People on the ground have much different opinions than the loudest minority who are online. As a social media expert, I know this well. This should be a sign to people that Nextdoor and angry Facebook threads don't vote. People do. And the people of Fort Lauderdale say the city is in fair hands.

Elijah Manley is the Publisher of The County and a member of its editorial board.

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