Seven Dems fight it out in open House 108 primary

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The exit of State Rep. Daphne Campbell into a Senate run has created an open seat and the largest clusterbunch of Democrats in any primary in the whole state of Florida.

There are seven candidates running to replace Campbell in House District 108. Count ’em. Seven! Sure, there are other races where there might be five or six wannabes. But all those include both parties and usually a write-in candidate. No other race has as many competing in the primary in the whole Sunshine State. The next biggest bout is the five-way Republican brawl in District 118, which we will get to later.

In District 108 — which encompasses North Miami, Biscayne Park, Miami Shores, El Portal and parts of the city of Miami from the 195 to the Golden Glades interchange — the seven hopefuls are: Roy Hardemon, uncle of Miami City Commissioner Keon Hardemon; former Campbell campaign staffer Fayola Delica, immigrant rights activist Francesca “Fran” Menes, former schoolteacher Moise Duge, former North Miami City Councilwoman Marie Erlande Steril, Indian-born businessman Henry Patel and Taj Collie-Echoles, who ran against Campbell in the 2014 primary and lost with only 17% of the vote.

Those kind of numbers could be a victory for Collie-Echoles this time around. With seven candidates vying for votes, the next state rep for district 108 might very well be elected by less than 20% of the voters.

Right now, it looks like the contest is a three-way between Steril, who must enjoy good name recognition, Menes — who has the Ruth’s List and the Florida Young Democrats’ endorsements — and Patel, who puts his money where his mouth is. Patel leads the pack with $48,000 in his campaign account, including $15,000 he loaned himself. Steril reported $29,000 in contributions and Menes lists $26,665 collected so far.

Despite his politically connected nephew, Hardemon hasn’t reported raising a dime and none of the other three candidates have raised more than $6,000, which makes it hard for them to get voters to notice.

This is a solidly Democrat district. Not a single Republican is running. So whoever wins next month without a majority is our new state rep. Like it or not.

  Daphne Campbell, Florida House, Keon Hardemon