Why Wayne Messam Wants to Go From Florida Mayor to POTUS

Wayne Messam, the mayor of Miramar, Florida, rarely shies away from confrontation. After the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018, he and several other Florida mayors sought to enforce stronger local gun restrictions. But they were stalled by strict state preemption measures, which mandate that even proposing to ban gun use on city-owned property can get local officials fined and fired by the governor. Following the lead of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who defended his city’s gun control restrictions in 2017, Messam and the other mayors advocating for municipal-level firearm measures sued the state. If successful, Miramar could declare public buildings, such as the city’s new 5,000-seat amphitheater, gun-free.

And now, as Messam continues the battle for more local control over gun regulations, he’s joining a growing group of Democratic mayors and former mayors who are running for the highest office in the country: POTUS. Messam launched an exploratory committee last week, after telling Buzzfeed, “If a mayor from South Bend can do it, then why not a mayor from Miramar?”