Former President Donald Trump has delivered a strong endorsement of Republican Michael Barnett’s candidacy for the Palm Beach County Commission.
Barnett, “a Highly Respected person, is doing an incredible job as Palm Beach County Commissioner,” Trump wrote in a post on social media. “Michael Barnett has my Complete and Total Endorsement – He is tough, smart, and will not let you down!”
The endorsement came Tuesday night, one day after Barnett met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach club where the former president lives.
Barnett was appointed last year to fill a vacancy on the Palm Beach County Commission, and is running for a full term in November. The contest, in which he faces former Greenacres Mayor Joel Flores, is one of the most competitive 2024 elections in the county.
Barnett, a former chair of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, was an early supporter of Trump, dating back to a time when most of the party establishment in Florida was backing former Gov. Jeb Bush or U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump, who often appeared at county party fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, have been close since. Even though Barnett stepped down as Republican Party chair to focus on the County Commission, the two met to discuss the local political landscape.
“I’m excited and grateful that he put it out so strongly,” Barnett said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “I’m very happy to have the president’s endorsement and support. It’s an honor.”
Foiled assassination attempt
The Mar-a-Lago meeting was scheduled before a would-be assassin was foiled at Trump International Golf Club near West Palm Beach, where the former president was playing on Sunday.
Barnett said he and Trump discussed the incident, which coincidentally took place in Barnett’s County Commission district. “I got to speak with him about my district, the race, how things are going in the county, the incident that happened at Trump International,” Barnett said.
“He looked upbeat. He didn’t seem rattled at all. He said he was ready to continue this campaign. I don’t think anything shakes him considering everything he’s been through — two assassination attempts. He was very friendly and cheerful,” Barnett said.
Given what had transpired a day earlier, Barnett said Trump “was very busy with a lot of calls and meetings.”
‘What can I do?’
While they were discussing politics, Barnett said Trump asked him how he could help, and specifically asked if he’d like an endorsement.
“He’s always been a very good friend and supporter. He asked me, ‘What can I do to help?’ He said, ‘Can I endorse you?” Barnett recalled. “I said I would absolutely love an endorsement.”
Barnett said he didn’t go to Mar-a-Lago seeking an endorsement. “I didn’t go there to ask for anything. It just happens we had a lot to talk about,” he said. “He’s willing to help me, and I’m grateful for his support, and I’ll accept it.”
A day later, on Tuesday night, Trump posted several endorsements on Truth Social, including the effusive praise of Barnett. “He is working hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes, Reduce Regulations, Secure the Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Great Law Enforcement, Protect our always under siege Second Amendment, and Safeguard our Community,” Trump wrote.
Plus or minus
The big unknown: What, if any impact, will the Trump endorsement have?
Barnett said it would help. Flores said it would hurt.
“It’s a net plus from what I’ve seen. President Trump is polling pretty well with Hispanics and NPAs. I walk my district, I do door knocking, and I see plenty of Trump signs all over the district, whether it’s Greenacres or Palm Springs. There’s a lot of excitement for President Trump,” Barnett said.
Flores disagreed. “I personally think this is probably going to hurt him. This is a very Democratic district, and a lot of the NPAs tend to lean that way,” Flores said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “I don’t think this helps him in any way.”
The district
The district covers the central part of Palm Beach County, including Palm Springs, Greenacres, Lake Clarke Shores, part of Lake Worth Beach, part of West Palm Beach, Cloud Lake, Glen Ridge and parts of unincorporated Palm Beach County.
District 3’s registered voters are somewhat more Democratic and less Republican than Palm Beach County as a whole.
District 3’s registered voters are 40.5% Democratic, 26.6% Republican and 32.9% no party affiliation/independent or minor party voters, according to the latest numbers posted by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office.
Democratic data analyst Matthew Isbell wrote in his newsletter last week that the territory in District 3 went for Biden over Trump 59.5% to 37.7% in the 2020 election.
In the 2022 election District 3 narrowly went for Democratic governor candidate Charlie Crist over Gov. Ron DeSantis, even as DeSantis narrowly won countywide.
When district boundaries were redrawn to reflect population changes uncovered in the 2020 Census, District 3 was configured to increase chances of voters electing a Hispanic commissioner. Flores participated in that push for a more Hispanic-oriented district.
Demographically, the latest voter registration figures show 34.2% of the district’s registered voters are Hispanic (compared to 13.6% countywide), 16.7% Black (13.5% countywide) and 40.1% white (64.4% countywide). Ethnicity designations aren’t required for people registering, so the figures are not precise.
Candidates
Barnett was elected five times as the county Republican chair. Trump also endorsed him the last time he ran for reelection as party leader, in December 2022, writing in a letter that Barnett “has been a true supporter of mine since 2013 and a warrior in the MAGA movement.”
In 2023, DeSantis appointed Barnett to the County Commission, which gave the Republicans a one-vote majority on the seven-member commission.
The vacancy was created when DeSantis rewarded Democratic County Commissioner Dave Kerner — who had endorsed the Republican governor’s reelection — with a high-level state appointment. DeSantis then appointed Barnett to fill the resulting vacancy on the County Commission.
With Barnett’s appointment to the commission, Republicans held four of the seven seats after flipping two of the three up for election in 2022.
Flores, the Democratic candidate, is a former two-term mayor of Greenacres, which is located in the district.
Haiti controversy
A hallmark of Barnett’s tenure as county Republican chair was his outreach to the Haitian American community. He consistently argued that the community included many socially conservative voters who could be swayed to vote Republican if candidates engaged with voters.
In 2016, Barnett orchestrated candidate Trump’s meeting with Haitian-Americans in Miami’s Little Haiti and made sure the visit received extensive coverage in Haitian community media outlets. Barnett — and some Democrats — said those moves helped Trump and the Republicans make inroads among Haitian-American voters in 2016.
Trump’s recent comments, amplifying untrue conspiracy theories that Haitians legally living in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s pets, have generated a backlash among many in the Haitian-American community in general.
There is a significant, but not huge Haitian community in District 3, Barnett and Flores said. It is home to Haitian churches and radio stations.
Flores said people in district three “were very offended by the comments that (Trump) made about immigrants in the last debate, and the comment about cats and dogs,” Flores said. “I think it was a slap in the face what the former president said about our communities.”
Barnett said the controversy about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, hasn’t come up when he’s been walking door-to-door in the district since the presidential debate. “It has not come up, and nobody has mentioned it.”
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
