Miami Gardens native Oscar Braynon II, 39, an African American Senator in the Florida Legislature was elevated to minority leader of the Democratic Party in the 2016-18 sittings of the Florida Senate on Monday. With his appointment Braynon leads the 15 Democratic senators, including 11 newly elected, in the Florida Senate.
Referring to his appointment, Braynon said, “I’m happy to be taking on the role. There’s a lot of potential in the Florida Senate.” He served notice that as the leader of the Democrats he’ll be striving for increasing Florida’s minimum wage, environmental protection, equal pay for women, affordable healthcare for more residents and improvement in public education.
Braynon was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2011 in a special election to succeed former Senator and current US Congresswoman Frederica Wilson in Florida Senate District 35 which includes sections of Broward County and Miami-Dade including Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Opa-locka, and Miami Gardens.
His career as an elected official began in 2003 when he was elected to the Miami Gardens City Council at age 25. Five years later in 2008 he was elected to the Florida House. He was reelected to the Florida Senate without opposition this year, following the completion of his first term.
Braynon was nominated as minority senate leader by Senator Jeff Clements of Lake Worth. The nomination was seconded by Senator Perry Thurston Jr. of Lauderhill, who spoke very highly of Braynon saying, “He has the vision to lead the state of Florida.”
