BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Debra Hixon defeated Jeff Holness for Broward School Board Seat 9 in a runoff election Tuesday after neither candidate received at least 50% of the vote in August’s primary.
See below for live results as the ballots are counted on Election Night:
Votes
%
Debra Hixon
Jeff Holness
(577 / 577)
Hixon, an educator from Hollywood with decades of experience in the classroom, is the widow of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Athletic Director Chris Hixon, who was killed in the 2018 school shooting that claimed 17 lives.
“It means this county has confidence and faith in me, and that means so much because they have been really what’s gotten our family through the last three years, and I am so honored to be able to serve them for the next four years on the School Board,” Hixon said after the results came in.
Holness is the cousin of Broward County Mayor Dale Holness and has worked in the Broward School System for 17 years as an educator. This was Holness' fifth attempt at running for public office, having unsuccessfully ran for Plantation City Council three times and the Sunrise City Commission once.
In the August primary, Hixon received 41.6% of the vote while Holness picked up 25.9%.
The Broward School Board seat became available when Robin Bartleman, a longtime member of the board, was elected to a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.