Miami Gardens’ Braynon wins state House race

A Miami Gardens councilman defeated the former mayor of Opa-locka in the race to fill the District 103 state legislative seat.

Wed, Feb. 13, 2008

BY HELEN BERGGREN, Special to The Miami Herald

Oscar Braynon II, who first plunged into the world of politics at age 15, will go to Tallahassee as the next state representative for District 103 after defeating former Opa-locka Mayor Myra Taylor in a special election Tuesday.

Braynon will fill out the remaining term of Wilbert ''Tee'' Holloway, who left the Legislature in November 2007 when Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him to fill a vacancy on the Miami-Dade School Board. The legislative seat comes before voters again in November.

''I'm happy that the district had the belief and faith in me to send me to Tallahassee to do the things that I believe will make District 103 a better community,'' said Braynon, 31, who was elected to the Miami Gardens City Council in 2003.

''I would like to congratulate my opponent on a hard-fought race, and I'm sure our paths will cross as we both try to work to make District 103 a better place for its residents,'' he said.

Braynon captured 61.9 percent of the vote, winning the seat 2,911 votes to 1,786. Less than 15 percent of registered voters in the district braved scattered thunderstorms to go to the polls Tuesday.

Braynon will be sworn in on March 5.

Though Taylor was preferred by voters in the part of the legislative district that is in Broward County, Braynon was more popular among voters in the much larger Miami-Dade portion.

Braynon got an early start in politics at age 15, campaigning for now-retired Miami-Dade County Commissioner Betty Ferguson. He later worked as a page for U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami.

Taylor, 59, was suspended from Opa-locka's highest office for being indicted on felony charges of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service through her Vankara schools. She pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file one year of her personal tax return in a timely manner.