A Stern No: Fort Lauderdale re-elects Mayor Dean Trantalis

Fort Lauderdale voters issued a stern no to three challengers to the incumbent Mayor Tuesday night. Shortly after 8 pm EST, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis had been re-elected to a final four-year term. Trantalis squeezed out a 4,000 vote lead over lobbyist Barbra Anne Stern, and crushed challengers Kenneth Cooper, and Jim Lewis. Trantalis held 41% of the vote to Stern's 35%. Cooper received 15% of the vote, and Lewis had 10% of the vote. A fourth challenger, Chris Nelson, withdrew from the race but still received roughly 4,000 votes.

Trantalis' victory party at Thasos Greek Taverna on Fort Lauderdale Beach was raucous as the incumbent declared victory. "Four more years" supporters chanted as Trantalis took the mic to speak. "I just received some good news", a visually excited Trantalis stated as he started to address his crowd. In the room was Vice Mayor/Commissioner Steve Glassman who trounced his opponents in a three-way District 2 race shortly after the polls closed. District 4 Commissioner-elect Ben Sorensen made an appearance as well.

With Glassman and Sorensen on the dais, Trantalis will now have a majority. He faced intense opposition from opponents who made overdevelopment, flooding, and infrastructure core issue of their campaigns. They claimed that overdevelopment in the Downtown community was a major issue. It appears that voters in the Downtown and surrounding areas rejected that notion as Glassman and Sorensen won in landslides. Trantalis will continue in office until 2028, and through this final term will be faced with many tests and challenges. For him, this is really just the beginning of Fort Lauderdale's next chapter.