Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony turned back three opponents Tuesday to secure the Democratic nomination in the November general election and likely claim a second full term at the helm of the county’s largest pubic safety agency.
After polls closed at 7 p.m., early tallies showed Tony had jumped out to a substantial lead over is closest rival, Steven “Steve” Geller. Two candidates, Al Pollock and David Howard, trailed well behind. All four men offered voters a substantial amount of law enforcement experience.
“I’m truly honored to once again be selected by the Democratic Party to serve as their nominee,” Tony said in an early evening statement issued with half of the election precinct votes counted. “For approximately six years, I’ve focused on reforming the Broward Sheriffs Office (BSO) into the finest public safety organization in the country.
“As we move forward in the general election, I share a message of hope and unity for our country, state, and for Broward,” he said. “As partisan politics continue to polarize and divide our nation, I’d encourage other elected officials and leaders to focus on building unity versus division. It’s easy to tear down, but the true sum of a person can be seen in what they attempt to build up.”
None of the challengers immediately offered any concessions or other statements after Tony claimed his victory.
The three men who opposed the sheriff strongly argued Tony should be replaced, criticizing his ethics, integrity and management style. The candidates included:
- Geller, who served 28 years with Plantation Police as a patrol officer, school resource officer, major case detective and captain, supervising internal affairs and other units. After retiring in 2018, he joined the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, where he was involved in use-of-force investigations of local police officers.
- Howard, who is a West Palm Beach police retiree who most recently served as Pembroke Park’s police chief for nearly three years after starting the department from scratch. He served nearly three decades in West Palm Beach, retiring as a watch commander. He is a U.S. Air Force retiree.
- Pollock, who is a retired BSO colonel who served in a variety of capacities through 40 years with the office, finishing his career as third in command. He oversaw the Department of Law Enforcement and all patrol support services, and also served as courthouse commander, road patrol sergeant, detective with the organized crime task force, and as a deputy sheriff.
From a financial standpoint, Tony, who has taken to calling himself “Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony” after recently securing a criminal justice Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University, had a leg up on his opponents. His Broward First PAC raised $2.6 million.
The sheriff also scored one of the election’s more important organizational endorsements: A nod from the Broward AFL-CIO, whose president told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the umbrella labor group relied on the BSO’s unionized employees to decide whether to formally support their boss in the election. They did. The Broward Teachers Union and Hispanic Vote PAC also backed him, among others.
But a Coral Springs voter who is a registered Democrat said Tuesday she believed it was time for a new sheriff.
“I’m not voting for Tony this time,” said retiree Susan Troy, 78, outside a polling place. “I want somebody different this time. He’s rubbing me the wrong way.”
His opponents all asserted Tony had gone overboard with his $1.5 billion budget request for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Tony said he needed additional money for more equipment and higher pay for officers, among other items. County commissioners took a dim view of the proposed budget, saying the record level of spending would require a major tax increase for Broward property owners. They asked the sheriff to dial it back.
Voters went to the polls after a pair of state-level conduct hearings scheduled for August were postponed until after the election. Last Thursday, the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission was supposed to hear a case involving misstatements by Tony on driver’s license applications. The week before, a Tallahassee administrative law judge was to hear a state Commission on Ethics case involving job application responses regarding drug use and arrest histories and traffic citations.
The Democratic primary outcome was widely viewed among political analysts and operatives as the final say by voters on who should hold job, which pays more than $286,000 annually, over the next four years. The Republican Party did not field a primary season candidate.
Only an independent candidate. Charles Whatley, is scheduled to appear on the ballot against Tony in the November general election. Whatley’s resume covers 28 years in law enforcement in various capacities, “from Patrol to the Police Motorcycle Unit, Detective Bureau, Field Force, and Training Unit at the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Oakland Park Police Department.”
Staff writer Lisa Huriash contributed to this story.