Bobby Brainard DuBose (born February 15, 1971) is an American Democratic politician who served as a member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

, representing the 94th District, which includes most of

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in central

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 ...

, from 2014 to 2022. DuBose served as minority leader with fellow Broward colleague as

Evan Jenne Evan Boyd Jenne (born September 4, 1977) is an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who had served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 99th District, which included most of Hollywood, F ...

co-leader for the 2020–2022 Legislature. On July 27, 2021 DuBose announced his resignation from the Florida House of Representatives, effective January 11, 2022.

Early life and career

DuBose was born in

, and attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, graduating with a degree in economics and then working as a self-employed insurance agent. In 2009, he ran for the Fort Lauderdale City Commission from District III, and came in first in the municipal primary election, receiving 49% of the vote to Pamela Adams's 31%, Nadine Hankerson's 12%, and Magdalene J. Lewis's 8%. Because no candidate received a majority, a runoff election was held between DuBose and Adams, which DuBose won handily with 64% of the vote. In 2011, DuBose was elected to his second term without opposition and served as the Vice-Mayor of Fort Lauderdale from 2011 to 2012.

Florida House of Representatives

In 2014, incumbent

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Perry E. Thurston, Jr. was unable to seek re-election due to term limits, so DuBose ran to succeed him. He faced Lauderdale Lakes City Commissioner Levoyd Williams in the Democratic primary, which was an open primary because no other candidates filed. The two candidates pledged to run a positive campaign because DuBose "grew up playing with Williams' children," both candidates are members of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

, and they are lifelong friends. DuBose pledged to work with

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in the legislature, noting, "I've learned to work with Republicans, Democrats, and independents, and we've been able to mobilize on central issues that affect us." In the end, DuBose defeated Williams in a landslide, receiving 67% of the vote, to win his first term in the legislature. In 2020, DuBose faced 21-year old activist Elijah Manley in the Democratic primary. After a contentious primary, DuBose won his final term in the Florida House of Representatives with 69% of the vote to Manley's 31%. For the 2020–22 Legislature, Dubose and fellow Broward Democrat

were elected by the House Democratic caucus to serve as co-minority leaders. On April 20, Dubose declared he was running for Congress in the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

after incumbent

Alcee Hastings Alcee Lamar Hastings ( ; September 5, 1936 – April 6, 2021) was an American politician and judge from the state of Florida. Hastings was nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida by President Jimmy Cart ...

died from pancreatic cancer. On July 27, 2021 DuBose submitted his irrevocable resignation as required by Florida Law, to run for Congress. As noted in his resignation letter, he will step down from the Florida House of Representatives on January 11, 2022. DuBose was defeated in the November 2, 2021 Special Democratic Primary Election for

Florida's 20th Congressional District Florida's 20th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Southeast Florida. It is currently held by Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who was elected in a January 2022 special election, following the death of Alcee Hasting ...

. He placed fifth out of eleven candidates.

References

External links

Florida House of Representatives - Bobby DuBoseCampaign website
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:DuBose, Bobby 1971 births 21st-century American politicians Candidates in the 2021 United States elections Living people Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Politicians from Fort Lauderdale, Florida University of Florida alumni