Dinah Escarment PHOTO COURTESY OF DINAG

By David L. Snelling

Miami– Former state senator Daphne Campbell and community activist and entrepreneur Dinah Escarment were once allies.

When Campbell was running for mayor of North Miami last year, she encouraged Escarment to run for District 108 state representative to replace Dotie Joseph who’s term-limited.

“She went on local Haitian radio talk shows that she wanted me to run, she called and visited my office wanting me to run for office,” said Escarment, state committeewoman for the party. “We prayed together and my employee helped her with a mayoral campaign.”

But after Campbell finished third in the race, she decided to run for the seat she had encouraged Escarment to seek.

With Escarment the only Democratic candidate in the race, Campbell filed papers seeking the party’s nomination in the primary set for March 2026.

The winner faces Wancito Francius, the lone Republican in the race, in November 2026.

Escarment said she was left stunned when Campbell entered the race with no explanation.

“She changed her mind,” said Escarment. “I guess that’s her personality. Hard to understand when she supported me for committeewoman.”

Nevertheless, Escarment, also a radio host and tax, immigration and real estate services executive, has been on the campaign trail for months knowing she’s the underdog in the race.

She is a political novice and Campbell is a veteran who was first elected to the state Senate in 2010.

Campbell lost her seat to Jason Pizzo in the Democratic Primary in 2018, and lost the District 35 senate race in 2020.

Campbell put her political career on hold after her 23-year-old was shot and killed in 2021.

 

When she resumed her public service career, she lost her bid for North Miami mayor.

Campbell couldn’t be reached for an interview.

She told the South Florida Times in June 2025 that her campaign is focusing on gun reform, adequate healthcare and programs for at-risk youths.

Escarment said District 108, which encompasses North Miami, Miami Shores, El Portal, Biscayne Park, Little Haiti, needs a fresh face in Tallahassee and with new ideas to address the issues.

The district constitutes a large Caribbean population which has been impacted by federal and state immigration laws including undocumented migrants deportation, which is the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s presidency.

Escarment, born to Haitian and Bahamian immigrants, said her upbringing and business meticulously prepared her for addressing pressing immigration issues.

They include collaborating with agencies to help migrants with their Temporary Protection Status and humanitarian parole program, which allows them to temporarily work and live in the U.S.

Trump has enacted immigration laws to strip them of their rights to stay in the U.S., clearing the way for deportation, albeit some courts have stymied his efforts.

Escarment said the immigration laws put migrants in a difficult position.

“As a child of immigrant parents and through my business, we are finding ways to show the value of the Caribbean community and find a legal pathway to citizenship,” she said. “Many immigrants have been here for many years and are in the same situation when their TPS and parole program status expire.”

Escarment warned that immigration enforcement laws are impacting the economy, especially for the hospitality and agriculture industries, creating widespread labor shortages, increasing labor costs and causing fear among undocumented workforce.

“The value of immigrants in hospitality and agriculture is important,” she said. “It shows they need us but must find a way to keep us here because we help the economy.”

Escarment’s political platform also focuses on the affordable housing crisis, as rising rental rates are causing an exodus and forcing some people into homelessness.

She said she plans to advocate for laws to protect tenants amid the affordable housing shortage and assistance programs to help keep them in their homes.

“It’s up to me to address these issues in Tallahassee,” she said.

Economic development, job creation, and criminal justice reform are also on Escarment’s political agenda.

She said recent federal and state funding cuts to local nonprofits designed to curb youth violence and interrupt the school to prison pipeline is a setback to the Black community’s efforts.

Escarment she’s a big supporter for the Circle of Brotherhood which is credited with reducing the crime rate among youth in Miami-Dade.

After the U.S. Department of Justice cut off the organization’s $2 million a year grant, Escarment said she would like to see the funding restored.

“Programs are very important and having funding for these organizations that’s guiding young men to better lives is essential,” she said.