New York, USA — Jamaica-American mayor of the Florida city of Miramar, Wayne Messam, easily won re-election in Tuesday’s municipal polls, taking 90.6 per cent of the votes to 9.4 per cent for his challenger Rudy Theophin.

Messam, who was born to Jamaican immigrants in the United States, secured 3,215 votes to 333 by neophyte Theophin, following the preliminary results at the end of the vote on Tuesday.

He is the first black mayor to preside over the affairs of Miramar, Florida’s 13th largest city with a population of close to 150,000 largely dominated by Jamaicans.

Messam, who heads his own construction firm — Messam Construction — had a short-lived run for the Democratic Party nomination for United States (US) president in 2020. He abandoned his bid after his campaign failed to gain any traction.

In his campaign for a third term as mayor, Messam — a regular visitor to Jamaica — said he had unfinished business to complete for the benefit of the city. He is credited with the success of the city being the corporate headquarters for a number of large corporations, among them Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines; Comcast and Spirit Airlines.

Messam’s father, Hubert Messam, worked as a cane cutter in the Glades in South Florida. Currently the president-elect of the Florida League of Mayors, Mayor Messam has built a household name for himself in South Florida. He first became mayor in 2015 and won a second term in 2019.

A graduate of Florida State University, where he gained a bachelor’s egree in management information system, he was also a member of the school’s 1993 national football winning team.