Spouse(s) Shawn Bernard Role Politician | Name Mack Bernard Children 2 Political party Democratic Party | |
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Born March 4, 1976 (age 48)
Port au Prince, Haiti. ( 1976-03-04 ) Profession Lawyer; business executive | ||
Education Florida State University | ||
First haitian elected in palm beach county mr mack bernard
Template:County Commissioner
Contents
- First haitian elected in palm beach county mr mack bernard
- Political career
- Personal life and career
- References
Mackenson "Mack" Bernard (born March 4, 1976) is a Haitian-born American politician. He lives in Boynton Beach, Florida. Bernard moved to Florida in 1986.
Political career
He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2009 as a Democrat in the 27th district.
In 2012, Bernard ran for a seat in the 27th district of the Florida Senate, facing fellow Representative Jeff Clemens. Clemens won the endorsement of labor unions AFL-CIO and SEIU, while Bernard received the endorsement of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. In the end, Clemens was able to narrowly defeat Bernard by only seventeen votes in the primary election. Bernard held out hope, however, that Clemens's victory would be overturned and filed a lawsuit to have forty absentee ballots counted. A judge in Tallahassee ruled against Bernard but allowed nine provisional ballots to be counted, which would not have been enough to allow Bernard to emerge victorious In the general election, Clemens remained on the ballot as the Democratic nominee, and was elected unopposed.
Personal life and career
Mr. Bernard holds a Juris Doctor with honors from University of Florida Levin College of Law. Due to his superior intellectual attainments, he served as a teaching fellow for legal research and writing. Mr. Bernard was a respected member of the UF Trial Team that participated in national competitions. Mr. Bernard was the recipient of the Book Award in Income Tax Law, a course taught by prominent tax professor Stevens Willis. After having passed the Florida Bar examinations, Mr. Bernard was accepted and earned an LLM in Taxation from UF in 2003.