Pines election results now confirmed. Here’s what to know about voter turnout
Who will oversee Pembroke Pines’ southwest and southeast regions for the next four years has been locked in, according to county officials.
Results for Broward’s 2026 municipal elections — which put the city’s District 1 and 4 commission seats on the ballot — were confirmed Friday, March 13, per county Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott.
Officeholders Tom Good (District 1) and Michael Hernandez (District 4) secured another term.
The former, first elected in 2018, will represent the east side of the city from Hiatus Road past Pembroke Road until reaching Florida’s Turnpike.
The latter — appointed in early 2024 to fill Mayor Angelo Castillo’s vacant spot and re-elected months after — will take charge of the city’s west side from Flamingo Road until reaching U.S. 27.
Here’s a breakdown of how Pembroke Pines showed up to vote.
Candidate and precinct specifics
This Election Day, March 10, saw over 4,700 of Pembroke Pines’ 123,146 registered voters hit the polls and participation from all polling locations save for one — precinct X017, Water C. Young Middle School.
District 1 candidates — incumbent Tom Good, retired Pembroke Pines Police Department sergeant James Henry, and insurance agent Dennis Hinds — saw the smallest voter turnout but the closest race.
Approximately 1,918 residents voted in District 1. Good led with 966 votes, with Hinds following close behind at 838 votes.
Most cast their choice for Good via vote by mail, producing 586 ballots, while Hinds saw stronger in-person turnout with 451 voters.
Henry trailed behind at 114 votes, 54 by mail and 60 in person.
The District 1 incumbent saw the greatest support in precinct X007, the Hollybrook Golf & Tennis Club, raking in 313 votes.
Hinds saw the biggest support in precinct X006, South Regional Library, and Henry in precinct X002, drawing 171 and 24 votes, respectively.
District 4 saw a landslide victory for officeholder Michael Hernandez, as he collected 2,123 of the 2,825 ballots cast for the regional race.
His opponent — event planner Elizabeth Burns — finished with 692 votes.
The majority of Hernandez’s votes — 1,623 — were mailed in compared to the 500 ballots turned in at the polls. Burns saw 484 vote-by-mail ballots versus 208 in-person votes.
Precinct support was at its highest near the Century Village Clubhouse — X015 — for the District 4 commissioner race, with 1,047 ballots being cast at the polling location.
Burns also saw her best results there, bringing in 267 votes.
Meet the winners
Good, now sitting for his third term in office, brings over 30 years in public service — including Miramar’s director of public works and Deerfield Beach’s assistant city manager — to the dais.
He kept his re-election campaign simple, telling the Pembroke Pines News in early March he’s opting to continue “on with the vision and strategic planning that we’ve done in past.”
That looks like championing the city blueprint’s — dubbed the Strategic Plan in 2024 — key goals, including traffic management, parks and recreation upgrades, expanding affordable housing and more.
Remedying the plan’s past funding failures could include outsourcing funds through county, state and federal grants, public-private partnerships and leveraging surtax monies as alternatives.
“I’ve been here 30 years, I have a vested interest in this city like no other. Certainly within my district I will make sure that people are happy,” Good told the Pembroke Pines News in early March. “What was the value in my career is the fact that I developed relationships with many different other agencies. ... We all know that the most important thing about how to get a problem resolved is to know who to go to.”
Hernandez, District 4’s winner, spent time as an on-air political analyst for Telemundo and Miami-Dade County’s director of communications.
When campaigning, he focused on residents’ financial concerns such as housing affordability and rising utility bills as well as quality-of-life issues like traffic safety.
Solutions he posed included cost-cutting competitive bidding for city services and investigating traffic-calming measures such as speed detection signs.
Upon his first days back in office, he plans to focus on the potential consequences of property tax reforms under discussion in the Florida Legislature.
“First of all, we need to prepare for the impact of whatever the state legislature puts on the ballot,” he told the Pembroke Pines News in early March. “I favor a tax cut. However, I just want to make sure that that property tax reduction does not harm our first responders and our ability to deliver essential services, particularly for our seniors.”
Swearing-in ceremony
Residents can celebrate their new commissioners at a swearing-in ceremony Wednesday, March 18, at the City Commission Chambers, located at 601 City Center Way.
A resolution to declare the election’s results will be adopted at 6:30 p.m., preceding the city’s regular commission meeting, followed by an oath of office taken by Good and Hernandez.
