Wayne Messam, the mayor of Miramar and one of Charlie Crist’s supporters for the Florida Democratic gubernatorial nomination, could emerge as the candidate for lieutenant governor this fall.
Messam is a “great public servant and he certainly would be on my shortlist,” Crist said during an April campaign stop in Fort Lauderdale, quickly adding that he needs to win the primary before he turns to figuring out who would be his running mate.
Messam was an early endorser of Crist’s gubernatorial candidacy, back in October.
On April 19, the two were scheduled to appear together at a “meet & greet” event in Madison County, east of Tallahassee along the border with Georgia, to talk about rural issues. Because of a flight delay, Messam stood in for Crist.
Though Messam is now mayor of Florida’s 13th-largest city, he was raised in South Bay, in rural Palm Beach County, where his father was a laborer in the region’s sugar cane fields. The week Messam endorsed Crist last year, they went together to the Glades communities in Palm Beach County.
Crist said his campaign would be using Messam “more and more and more” around the state.
Messam as running mate would bring demographic and geographical diversity to a ticket headed by Crist, 65, of St. Petersburg. He is a white former Republican governor and current Democratic congressman.
Messam, 47, of Miramar is the son of Jamaican immigrants. He is a general contractor serving his second term as mayor, president-elect of the Florida League of Mayors, and former president of the Florida League of Cities Black Caucus.
From late March through late November 2019, Messam was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, but never managed to raise much money or gain traction in national public opinion polls, and didn’t make the stage for any of that year’s presidential candidate debates.
He had great success in 2015 when, after one term on the Miramar City Commission, he challenged — and defeated — four-term incumbent Mayor Lori Moseley.
Crist and Messam share a school and football. Messam was a wide receiver on Florida State’s 1993 national championship football team and student body vice president.
Crist is also a Seminole. Before transferring to Florida State, he attended Wake Forest University, where he was a walk-on quarterback.
“Is Wayne qualified to be lieutenant governor? Certainly. He’s got a lot of experience,” said Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller, a former Florida Senate Democratic leader and Crist’s Broward campaign chairman.
“I’m sure (Messam) is one of many people up for consideration. I am fairly confident that Charlie will want someone as his running mate that will help Florida look like Florida. Whether he picks an African American, a Caribbean American like Wayne, a Hispanic woman I don’t know.”
Asked about the notion of lieutenant governor, Messam said, “You’d have to speak to Charlie about that. I’m sure that whoever he decides will be his running mate will be someone that can have some reach throughout the state, someone who has the same values as they relate to where we think this state should go. Whoever he should select, I’ll be there to support.”
Crist faces Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and state Sen. Annette Taddeo in the Aug. 23 Democratic primary.
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