Quick thoughts re the prospective Todd Delmay vs. Hillary Cassell 2026 Florida House 101 race -to the bottom- that most of SE Broward probably would prefer to ignore because both avoid giving answers to hard questions about
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Lawmaker who jumped party to face challenger
Anthony Man, South Florida Sun Sentinel
February 12, 2025
Democrat Todd Delmay is challenging Democrat-turned-Republican state Rep. Hillary Cassel in what’s likely to be the hottest South Florida legislative election in 2026.
Best known in LGBTQ civil rights and Democratic political circles, Delmay is announcing his candidacy on Wednesday.
He’s challenging Cassel, who was best known in the fields of insurance law and politics — until December, when she denounced the Democratic Party and switched her registration to Republican. She was rewarded with an appointment as vice chair of a state House committee and a social media post of praise from President Donald Trump.
Read the rest of the article at:
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In case you missed the news, niche Identity Politics candidate Todd Delmay, A Democrat who IMO has truly done NOTHING OF NOTE in #HollywoodFL that has not been either LGBTQ-related or of a generally virtue-signaling nature, has decided that his over-weaning personal ambition and ego now compel him to force his way back into the public eye and come before the public once again.
Delmay has apparently decided that he of all people is best situated to take full advantage of Democratic Party voters in HD 101 who feel, oddly, betrayed by Hillary Cassell, who, herself, IMO, had/has done very little, and seldom if ever was seen at Hallandale Beach or Hollywood City Commission meetings or Civic Association meetings BEFORE she decided in 2021 to run for the non-Minority state House 101 seat for SE Broward.
Contrary to pretty much everything you thought you knew about running for office, right?
In doing so, Cassell took FULL advantage of Covid 19 in a way that few other South Florida candidates did as successfully, owing to the reality of the many older people in this area's very clear phobia about going out in public, even in 2021.
In doing so, Cassell took FULL advantage of Covid 19 in a way that few other South Florida candidates did as successfully, owing to the reality of the many older people in this area's very clear phobia about going out in public, even in 2021.
Yes, Covid-19 was really Cassell's critical ally, as well as her ready-made excuse for largely ignoring or interacting with the voters, and instead, made everything about the election turn on marketing herself, and taking advantage of the large number of attorney dollars her campaign was flush with.
And, on the chance you didn't know it already, Cassell also chose to spread a lot of those campaign dollars on/at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, to show her, um, new-found concern about the area she had largely avoided appearing before previously in a matter affecting public policy.
Or just to gripe about something.
But as we know, given a choice, lawyer lobbyists don't identify themselves as lobbyists on campaign disclosure forms, they identify as lawyers. You know, like Lincoln.
So that's why when the stories came out about her $ haul, seemingly everyone EVERYONE ever mentioned in the articles about her was an attorney, NOT a lobbyist. And I know I was not the only person to notice that in Broward or Tallahassee, because I got emails about it, even from Politico and other out-of-town reporters I know.
Todd Delmay now is attempting to foist himself on Hollywood residents yet again, after failing to capture fire in 2022 because he had, literally, done NOTHING OF NOTE in the Hollywood or larger SE Broward community, and could NOT answer hard questions about real issues.
Instead, to the extent he said anything, it was always the same 2-3 things, according to friends who did actually see him, albeit, at grocery stores, not at public events.
Here's how bad I think Delmay's lack of self-awareness is: Delmay says he's the "Founder of the Hollywood LGBTQ+ Council," a niche group that seems like a LGBTQ version of a Latin or Brazilian or Italian Chamber of Commerce group. If a bunch of people want to network among like-minded people, no harm, right?
But what have they ACTUALLY done since they were created?
Besides appearing at events around town where they are sort of... the featured attraction?
When you go to their website, what do you see on the landing page? https://lgbtqcouncil.com/
A five-year old video of the LGBTQ flag that was raised on one of the flagpoles on the east side of Hollywood City Hall.
A five-year old video of the LGBTQ flag that was raised on one of the flagpoles on the east side of Hollywood City Hall.
That required that the U.S. POW flag be removed from the city's flagpoles, and thus become a mini-controversy on many Social Media sites for some veterans, as well as the hapless NextDoor app site that's home to so many posts that clearly get written and posted in anger, not after quiet reflection about the true facts.
I myself received about a dozen emails from people around the city, many from people I had never met or heard of before, all asking me why the POW flag was shunted aside and why, in their opinions, the city did such a poor job of communicating publicly what they were doing, and how long the flag would be there, and what was to become of the POW flag?.
Oh, I almost forgot. There's also another video on the landing page about... buckle up, not what they've been doing the past few weeks or months but about... The Hollywood LGBTQ Council Launch Event
The event from five years ago! https://www.youtube.com/
This is largely a self-promoting video produced by NBC6 where Todd Delmay talks about... "Changing the conversation in Hollywood." What?
How has the conversation been changed and what does that even mean in a very blue city in a very blue county where pols are prone to virtue-signal without even being asked to?
The entire website seems to be built for the purpose of developing a mailing list for someone, not actually discussing possible effective methods or policy prescriptions for solving the genuine problems that are all around us in South Florida, and SE Broward in particular?
Me, I think that someone is... yes, Todd Delmay.
The one person who can... actually access the information requested on the website.
Just to remind, Todd Delmay was NOT big on appearing at public settings in Hollywood in 2021 and early 2022 where he could be asked hard questions about the issues that one needs to really know and understand to properly serve the public from Tallahassee. Like the area's dysfunctional public transportation system for instance, the general uselessness of the Broward MPO, or the generally mediocre quality of the public schools in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, where McNicol Middle School in Hollywood just blocks from I-95 on Pembroke Road has long been viewed (and even rated by the School Board) as THE worst Middle School in the entire county.
In my opinion, there are perhaps two dozen people in Hollywood I can think of, to say nothing of the rest of House District 101, who are MUCH more qualified to run against Hillary Cassell than Todd Delmay.
Just to remind, Todd Delmay was NOT big on appearing at public settings in Hollywood in 2021 and early 2022 where he could be asked hard questions about the issues that one needs to really know and understand to properly serve the public from Tallahassee. Like the area's dysfunctional public transportation system for instance, the general uselessness of the Broward MPO, or the generally mediocre quality of the public schools in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, where McNicol Middle School in Hollywood just blocks from I-95 on Pembroke Road has long been viewed (and even rated by the School Board) as THE worst Middle School in the entire county.
(Why is that true? What are the factors that led to that becoming a stone cold fact? Silence. Nobody wanted to talk about it. Least of all, Todd Delmay or Hillary Cassell, to say nothing of the handful of lackluster School Board candidates that year. Clearly, lack of money was NOT the problem for McNicol Middle School being deemed a school that by any reasonable standard had failed to do what it was supposed to do, for the kids who went there.
Local kids who deserve much better.)
I say all of this as someone who was, to be blunt, completely (and who largely remain now) COMPLETELY UNIMPRESSED by the once-reclusive Hillary Cassell. In 2021 I wrote often on my blog, on Twitter and in emails some of you received, about how her entire 2021-22 campaign seemed to consist of two things: Receiving LOTS of money from attorneys -many from outside Broward- and getting positive (paid-for?) spin about that very money in one online Florida political website that is nothing close to being the home of honest, objective journalism.
I say all of this as someone who was, to be blunt, completely (and who largely remain now) COMPLETELY UNIMPRESSED by the once-reclusive Hillary Cassell. In 2021 I wrote often on my blog, on Twitter and in emails some of you received, about how her entire 2021-22 campaign seemed to consist of two things: Receiving LOTS of money from attorneys -many from outside Broward- and getting positive (paid-for?) spin about that very money in one online Florida political website that is nothing close to being the home of honest, objective journalism.
Or even pretends to be.
The familiar news reporters at Channel 4, 6, 7 and 10 as well as both South Florida newspapers largely gave Cassell a free Hall Pass, and she took FULL ADVANTAGE of that to get elected in 2022.
This, despite the fact that most people at the Civic Association meetings I attended across the city, from Hollywood Lakes to Downtown Parkside Royal Poinciana to Hollywood Hills... had both largely never heard of her, and could NOT tell me one thing about her that they'd heard or read that was the least bit persuasive or positive about her.
It was crazy, but then for lots of people in SE Broward, Hillary Cassell was female, a Democrat, and an attorney, and THAT was ENOUGH!
At least, against two very uninspiring male candidates who failed to articulate a compelling message or vision, take your choice. And SE Broward, having failed to push her to explain herself, got exactly what it deserved.
Got what IT voted for.
But now, they're surprised that Cassell, to her credit, may actually wants to see positive results on some issues she feels strongly about or knows something about, and not just spin her wheels in the minority for YEARS.
In my opinion, there are perhaps two dozen people in Hollywood I can think of, to say nothing of the rest of House District 101, who are MUCH more qualified to run against Hillary Cassell than Todd Delmay.
Especially if one is inclined to run as the Angry Democrat candidate if that suits you best- based simply on what they have ALREADY DONE for their own neighborhood or the city at large to make it better and improve the Quality of Life.
And that includes some of you!
This area has genuinely taken lots of things for granted for a very long time. Coasted along like there were always
This area has genuinely taken lots of things for granted for a very long time. Coasted along like there were always
more people who would move here from elsewhere to take the place of young families who moved out of Hollywood or Hallandale Beach once their own kids had to go to a public Middle School and they suddenly saw for themselves that was a very bad option.
That blase attitude came at a huge cost, and now there are multiple TROUBLING problems that demand a smart, savvy, open-minded person who cares more about achieving positive results for the largest number of people, both here and around the state, than merely getting credit publicly.
And it desperately needs people who can see things from other's POV.
But Todd Delmay?
My sense of things is that THAT has never been his persona thus far, so why would you suddenly expect him to be someone else?
Is he someone who CAN work effectively on issues with state House Republicans, knowing that they may well disagree with him on the social issues that he cares about most?
Them, in a party that already enjoys a super-majority in the state House that is only going to get larger next year as many Dems term-out?
Todd Delmay?
No! Hard, hard pass!
I should think that by now, most of you know the difference between both having and then successfully mobilizing behind a genuine voice -or a faint echo- in order to do the most good. But maybe I'm wrong.
I should think that by now, most of you know the difference between both having and then successfully mobilizing behind a genuine voice -or a faint echo- in order to do the most good. But maybe I'm wrong.
There's now plenty of time for people like these two -and others- to either surprise us, or for them to... NOT show any kind of desire to change and grow at all.
P.S.
I was going to send this right before New Year's Day but decided to wait it out a bit... and see if anything changed. Nope!
Anthony Man/Broward Politics has left Twitter for Dem-leaning Bluesky.
His last tweet was Nov. 24th, 2024.
So, for all practical purposes, he has chosen to make himself even more irrelevant to what's going on in Broward than before, which is really saying something, given the mountain of interesting or compelling stories happening that he consistently showed ZERO interest in covering in the paper, or even mentioning on his Twitter feed, as a head's up to folks who follow him. 
So, you might as well Unfollow his feed like I did -even though he Follows me, for whatever that's been worth- and use that Follow of yours on someone who is curious, open-minded and continuing to generate and post new and original content, instead of rehashing something for the umpteenth time, which, IMO, has long been his specialty.
Just a thought...
Dave
David Bruce Smith
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