Shlomo Danzinger, a former mayor of Surfside, a town in Miami-Dade County, narrowly defeated Vice Mayor Tina Paul in a runoff election, winning 50.4% of the vote, according to published results.
Danzinger, who is an Orthodox Jew, will succeed Mayor Charles Burkett.
The runoff election, which fell during Passover, prompted the Jewish community to file an emergency lawsuit seeking a delay.
Surfside is “one of the most heavily Jewish communities in the United States, in terms of both population and observance,” per the filing. “Of its approximately 5,700 residents, an estimated 2,500 are Jewish, and approximately 35% of the Jewish population identifies as Orthodox.”
Lourdes Simon, a judge of the Florida 11th Circuit Court, declined to postpone the vote but extended the deadline for mail-in ballots, allowing additional votes to be received and counted through April 28.
