Wayne Martin Messam (born June 7, 1974) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver, businessman, and politician serving as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Miramar, Florida, a position he has held since 2015. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he was first elected to the Miramar City Commission in 2011 before defeating incumbent mayor Lori Cohen Moseley in the 2015 election. Messam is also a general contractor and owner of a construction firm. Messam ran for the Democratic nomination for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

in the 2020 United States presidential election. He officially launched his campaign on March 28, 2019. He suspended his presidential campaign on November 20, 2019, having failed to qualify for any of the Democratic debates.

Early life, education, and football

Messam was born in South Bay, FL to Delsey and Hubert, who were born in Jamaica, where his father was a contractor for cutting sugarcane before they immigrated. After graduating from

Glades Central High School Glades Central Community High School is a high school located in Belle Glade, Florida. In the 2014–15 school year its enrollment numbered 992 students. It is known for having one of the best high school football teams in the nation, with more foo ...

in Belle Glade, FL, Messam attended Florida State University, where he played as a wide receiver for the Florida State Seminoles from 1993 through 1996. He was a member of the 1993 national championship team and caught 62 passes for 793 yards and four

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s during his college football career as a Seminole. He graduated from Florida State in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems. After not being selected in the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

, Messam signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent and was released on August 4 of that year.

Career

Messam started a construction company in 2007. He was first elected to the City Commission of Miramar, Florida in 2011, and was elected as the city's mayor in 2015, defeating incumbent Lori Cohen Moseley and former vice mayor Alexandra Davis with 38.5% of the vote after vacating his commission seat. He won re-election on March 12, 2019. Messam serves as president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.

2020 presidential campaign

In early 2019, some sources indicated that he was considering a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, which he neither confirmed nor denied, stating that "all options will remain on the table." On March 13, 2019, he announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a potential run and formally announced his candidacy nine days later. His campaign received $43,531 in campaign donations in the first quarter of 2019. In April, he was accused of failing to pay his staff. On June 28, he told ''Fortune Magazine'' that lack of money had kept his campaign from receiving national attention. Messam's third quarter fundraising report initially declared that he had received only $5 in income, and had spent $0. Messam claimed that the low amounts were attributable to a "computer glitch." Messam later corrected these amounts to state that he had received $15,312 in income and spent $10,678 during the third quarter. His year-end quarterly reports showed that between the beginning of the fourth quarter and the end of his campaign, Messam received no money in contributions. Messam suspended his presidential campaign on November 20, 2019. He did not qualify for any Democratic debate and was not classified as a "major candidate" by outlets such as ''

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...

''.

Electoral history

References

External links

Presidential campaign website

Official site at City of Miramar
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Messam, Wayne 1974 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American politicians African-American mayors in Florida African-American candidates for President of the United States American athlete-politicians American politicians of Jamaican descent Businesspeople from Florida Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election Cincinnati Bengals players Florida Democrats Florida State Seminoles football players Florida State University alumni Mayors of places in Florida People from Palm Beach County, Florida Players of American football from Florida Sportspeople from the Miami metropolitan area