Fort Lauderdale Elected Officials

Fort Lauderdale elects five officials, a mayor chosen citywide and four district commissioners: Mayor Dean Trantalis, John Herbst in District 1, Steven Glassman in District 2, Pamela Beasley-Pittman in District 3 and Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen in District 4 (City Commission).

Start dates come from each official's own city page: the mayor's page says Trantalis has served since March 2018, Glassman's says he was sworn in on March 20, 2018, and Sorensen's says he was sworn in on December 3, 2024 after earlier service from 2018 to 2022 (Mayor Trantalis; Commissioner Glassman; Vice Mayor Sorensen). The Herbst and Beasley-Pittman pages describe their careers but give no swearing-in date, so the table leaves those cells blank rather than guess (Commissioner Herbst; Commissioner Beasley-Pittman).

Each Fort Lauderdale seat carries a four-year term with a limit of three consecutive terms, and the next citywide election for all five seats is Tuesday, November 7, 2028 (City Commission; City Clerk).

The limit is already shaping the next race. Glassman's page says that in 2024 he began serving his third and final term, after being re-elected on November 3, 2020, so under the three-term limit the District 2 seat comes open at the 2028 election (Commissioner Glassman). Charter section 7.07 sets the regular election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every fourth year, counting from 2020, and if only one candidate qualifies for a seat no election is held and the Commission declares that candidate elected (City Clerk election information).

Before 2028, the City Clerk lists a District 1 Special Election on Tuesday, November 3, 2026; candidates qualified between noon on Monday, June 8, 2026 and noon on Friday, June 12, 2026 (City Clerk). The clerk's page does not state why the special election is needed, and the city still lists Herbst as the District 1 commissioner, so the District 1 row above should be re-checked after the November 3 results (City Commission).

The current Fort Lauderdale commissioners come from finance, education, public safety support and the ministry, according to the biographies the city publishes for each of them (Herbst; Glassman; Beasley-Pittman; Sorensen).

Herbst, after serving in the United States Marine Corps, worked as finance director for the City of Neptune Beach and several City of Jacksonville agencies, and in 2006 he spearheaded the creation of the Fort Lauderdale City Auditor's Office, which he then led as City Auditor (Commissioner Herbst). Glassman was an educator for eighteen years, spent more than a decade as an administrator in the Broward County Cultural Division, and sat on the city's Beach Redevelopment Advisory Board and Planning and Zoning Board before his election (Commissioner Glassman).

Beasley-Pittman, a Fort Lauderdale native and Northeast High School graduate, worked 32 years as a civilian at the Broward County Sheriff's Office, from 911 communications operator to extraditions specialist, and is president of the Historic Dorsey Riverbend Civic Association (Commissioner Beasley-Pittman). Sorensen spent 17 years as an Intelligence Officer in the Navy Reserve before becoming a chaplain in 2025, and his city page notes two earlier terms as Vice Mayor (Vice Mayor Sorensen).

The mayor's office presents its own record on the city site. Its infrastructure page says that since Trantalis became mayor in 2018 the city has built more than 19 miles of water pipe, 17 miles of sewer pipe and 15 miles of stormwater pipe, and credits him with launching Fortify Lauderdale, which commits up to $500 million to stormwater and flood prevention across 17 neighborhoods (Mayor Trantalis, Infrastructure). The same page says a new downtown pump station added 1 million gallons a day of sewage capacity; these are the office's own claims, not an audited tally (Mayor Trantalis).

Four Fort Lauderdale city officers work alongside the elected commission: Acting City Manager Christopher Cooper, City Attorney Shari McCartney, City Auditor Pat Reilly and City Clerk David Soloman (City Manager; City Attorney; City Auditor; City Clerk).

The City Manager is appointed by the City Commission (City Commission), and the City Clerk is a charter officer who reports directly to the City Commission (City Clerk). The City Attorney's Office serves as legal counsel to the commissioners, departments, boards and committees, and the city states it is not authorized to give legal advice to the general public (City Attorney). Christopher Cooper's title on the City Manager's Office page is Acting City Manager, and the page names no permanent manager (City Manager).

The Fort Lauderdale City Attorney's Office works from three addresses: the main office in Suite 1320 of 1 East Broward Blvd., the Municipal Prosecutors at 600 South Andrews Avenue (954-828-4553) and the Police Legal Division at 1300 West Broward Boulevard (954-828-5622), and the office's contact block lists hours of Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (City Attorney). The City Clerk, for its part, is custodian of all records of an official character and attests to the mayor's signature on city documents (City Clerk).

Yes, for one meeting: the Fort Lauderdale City Auditor may pull an item involving city money or property off a City Commission agenda and defer it to the next regular meeting (City Auditor).

The item must relate to a transaction in which the city will spend or receive funds, property, goods or services, and the right of removal may be used only once for each item (City Auditor). The Commission can override the removal, but only by one vote more than a majority of the full Commission, which on a five-member body means four votes (City Auditor; City Commission).

The auditor also reviews any matter of city business that a City Commissioner or the City Manager requests, and can require departments and officials to produce documents and records (City Auditor). Fort Lauderdale residents with an audit concern can reach the office at 954-828-4590 (City Auditor).

Every Fort Lauderdale commissioner has a fortlauderdale.gov email listed on the City Commission page, and written mail for any of them goes to Suite 444 at 1 East Broward Boulevard (City Commission).

Phone access differs by office. The mayor's line is 954-828-5314, District 1 is 954-828-5008, and the Vice Mayor's office is 954-828-5028 with a city-listed cell of 954-270-2302; Districts 2 and 3 list email only on the main page, and the shared commission office number is (954) 828-5003/5004 (City Commission). The District 3 page adds a chief of staff line, 954-828-5011, and the District 1 page a commission assistant line, 954-828-5033 (District 3; District 1).

One address detail differs between city pages: the mayor's page lists the office at 1 East Broward Blvd, Floor 4, with ZIP code 33311, while the City Commission page uses 33301 for the same building (Mayor Trantalis; City Commission). The commission page is the one that gives an address for correspondence to the mayor and every commissioner.

District 1 voters cast the special election ballot through the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, which runs early voting, mail ballots and Election Day polling places for the 11/3/2026 election (Broward Supervisor of Elections; City Clerk).

The Supervisor of Elections home page posts the early voting and secure ballot intake station schedules, the list of polling places for the 11/3/2026 general election and a personalized sample ballot lookup, and it lists a canvassing board meeting on 10/21/2026 (Broward Supervisor of Elections). Fort Lauderdale candidates file their qualifying papers and campaign treasurer reports with the City Clerk, who posts them on the city election page; qualifying appointments are booked at 954-828-5006 or 954-828-5002 (City Clerk election information). Last verified: October 18, 2026, on seven City of Fort Lauderdale official pages, five Fort Lauderdale commission biography pages and the Broward Supervisor of Elections.