Broward's Identity Crisis.
A Tallahassee lobbyist joked we might as well rename it Newest York.
A local developer shot back, "The whole thing's ridiculous. We might as well call it Rainbowland."
That about sums up the reaction to Broward's latest distraction: the push to rename the county "Lauderdale."
The Pitch
State Rep. Chip LaMarca (R-Lighthouse Point) and County Commissioner Michael Udine (D-Parkland) are leading the charge. They say it is about branding. LaMarca calls it a business issue. Udine says the tourism crowd keeps bringing it up.
He points to the airport, convention center, and "Visit Lauderdale" slogan as proof the name is already baked into the brand. They both want to give voters a chance to decide next year whether to make it official.
Michael Worley, a national Democratic consultant and partner at MDW Consulting, says he gets it…even if it's politically tone-deaf.
"I laud him for having the cajónes to bring this up," Worley said of Udine. The issue, he explained, was that people don't know a lot about Lauderdale and this opens up his record to scrutiny by Democratic activists.
The History
These are the activists who spent years portraying Napoleon Bonaparte Broward as a villain for a 1907 speech about race. That speech, by today's standards, is uncomfortable. But it was prophetic in many ways.
Broward was at the end of his career. He served during the height of Reconstruction and warned that race relations were breaking down. He said whites and blacks no longer knew each other personally, that bitterness was growing, and that he sees no path for blacks to serve the highest levels of government "for the foreseeable future."
He predicted racial violence and the collapse of mutual trust.
Unfortunately, he was right.
Within a generation, the Ku Klux Klan had returned, segregation hardened, and the South plunged into the racial strife of the civil rights era.
His "solution" - a separate state where Black Americans could govern themselves - was deeply flawed but came from a belief in self-determination, not supremacy. He wanted them to "occupy the highest places" in their own land.
Broward's words were clumsy to modern ears. But they came from a man trying to understand his time, not inflame it.
Major William Lauderdale left no such ambiguity. He was a Tennessee slaveholder who was the right hand of Andrew Jackson in the Seminole Wars. He burned villages and killed women and children. When he died in 1838, he left behind a plantation and forty enslaved people.
Even in his time, he was brutal. If he had lived another generation, he almost certainly would have fought for the Confederacy.
That is the man some politicians now want to honor.
The Politics
LaMarca has filed a local bill to put the question on the 2026 ballot. Before it can reach Tallahassee, it must pass the Broward Legislative Delegation, which is almost entirely Democratic.
Worley says that is where this rebrand could turn radioactive.
"Democratic activists are going to look hard at Lauderdale's record," he said. "It's going to make this a lot less about branding and a lot more about values."
Supporters note four cities in Broward already have "Lauderdale" in their names: Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, North Lauderdale, and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. But five also have Beach: Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach, and Pompano Beach.
If branding is the goal, "Beach County" might be more honest.
The Real Problem
The county is facing an accountability crisis with the taxpayer funds they are entrusted with. They see it coming.
"Every poll we run in Broward shows people are laser-focused on cost of living," Worley said. "For younger residents it's housing. For older residents it's property taxes. Voters don't want to pay for a name change. They want their bills to stop going up."
That tracks with what GOP pollsters are telling me too. The anger over affordability crosses party lines.
When you cannot fix it, rebrand it.
Broward doesn't need a new name. It needs new priorities.
Maybe that lobbyist was right. We have long been known as the fifth borough. Instead of wasting time and money on this, maybe we should just call it Newest York and move on.