State Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Democrat from Weston serving her third term, is the new chair of the Broward Legislative Delegation.
And state Rep. John Snyder, a Republican from Stuart serving his third term, is the new chair of the Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation.
Before she was elected as a state representative, Bartleman was a member of the Broward School Board for 16 years, and previously served a term as a Weston city commissioner.
Snyder’s district takes in most of Martin County, plus part of northeastern Palm Beach County. He chairs the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee and is deputy majority leader.
“He has built a reputation for conducting well-run meetings and for his calm demeanor and humble attitude,” said state Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Democrat who nominated Snyder to serve as chair.
Skidmore is serving in the House for the second time; in her earlier service she served with Snyder’s father, former state Rep. and former Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
Snyder had been the vice chair of the delegation, and serving as leader since the July death of the previous chair, state Rep. Joe Casello.
There’s a big difference in the two counties’ legislative delegations’ makeup and the way they operate.
Broward is overwhelmingly Democratic. The delegation has 12 Democrats and two Republicans, and that’s only after state Rep. Hillary Cassel switched to Republican after she was elected as a Democrat. There is also one no party affiliation lawmaker, state Sen. Jason Pizzo, who was elected as a Democrat and subsequently left the party.
Broward legislators only pick Democrats, never Republicans, to lead the delegation. That’s been contentious in the past, but no one at the Oct. 27 election meeting suggested a change.
Palm Beach County, which is much more evenly split, currently has six Democrats, five Republicans and two vacancies. One vacancy had been held by Casello, a Democrat, the other by a Republican, state Rep. Mike Caruso, who resigned when he was appointed county clerk of courts and comptroller.
Leadership of the Palm Beach County delegation alternates between a Republican and a Democrat.
Palm Beach County lawmakers selected Democrat Skidmore as vice chair for the coming legislative session, putting her in line to become delegation chair for the 2027 session.
Broward lawmakers elected state Sen. Rosalind Osgood for a second term as vice chair, putting her in line to become delegation chair for the 2027 session.
Each county has a delegation of senators and representatives whose districts include all or parts of the county. The chair leads delegations as they consider and advance issues that are especially important to local interests, but not high on the agenda for lawmakers elsewhere.
Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.