SURFSIDE, Fla. – Surfside voters elected the man who will be mayor for the next two years on Tuesday. They chose between two businessmen who had done the job before: Shlomo Danzinger and Charles Burkett.
Most voted for Burkett, who was the mayor when the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building occurred, killing 98 people in 2021.
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53% of voters chose Burkett, 62, the former mayor who served three terms and lost to Danzinger in 2022. The Miami Beach native moved to Surfside in 1996, ran for mayor and lost in 2004, was elected in 2006, and was reelected in 2008 and 2020.
47% of voters chose Danzinger, 44, the incumbent who won the 2022 election with 499 votes and was under police protection after a self-proclaimed Nazi threatened him. Danzinger moved to Surfside in 2012. He is a member of the town’s Orthodox Jewish community and a father of five.
There was a town hall shakeup after Burkett lost in 2022 and Burkett accused Danzinger of a Sunshine Law violation last year. The town’s most recent scandals were the arrest of a former commissioner’s son who was accused of pushing Vice Mayor Jeffrey Rose, as well as a probe being launched into possible Surfside voter irregularities involving a home Rose built where people have registered as their address, although many say no one lives there.
There were also feuds over Danzinger’s trip to Dubai and his support of the families of Israeli hostages after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Rose, and commissioners Fred Landsman, Marianne Meischeid, and Nelly Velasquez were also up for reelection.
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Charles W. Burkett
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