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Mike Gelin Seeks Return to Tamarac Commission as Morey Wright Defends District 2 Seat 2

Former Tamarac Commissioner Mike Gelin and Tamarac Commissioner Morey Wright. {City of Tamarac}

Former Tamarac Commissioner Mike Gelin is seeking to regain the District 2 seat he gave up to run for mayor in 2022, challenging Morey Wright Jr., who won the open seat that year and is now running for a second term.

Wright and Gelin are the only candidates who qualified for the District 2 race in the Nov. 3 election, according to the city of Tamarac. Wright was first elected in 2022 after Gelin left the seat to run for mayor. The two have never faced each other at the polls.

Gelin, a small business owner, represented District 2 from 2018 through 2022. Rather than seek another term in his district, he ran for mayor in 2022 and lost to Mayor Michelle Gomez. Wright won the open District 2 seat that year.

Gelin’s campaign says he would push for faster Broward Sheriff’s Office response times and community policing, along with better street lighting, traffic safety, and pedestrian infrastructure. He is also calling for stable property taxes for seniors, greater financial transparency from the city, and for filling vacant shopping plazas before allowing development on green space, according to his campaign’s website.

Wright, an entrepreneur and technology consultant, is campaigning mostly on initiatives he spearheaded for the city during his first term, such as the Tamarac Scholars Program, which is funded through a $150,000 annual contribution from Waste Management, which handles garbage and recycling for the city.

The seven-year program is expected to provide more than $1 million for scholarships, internships, and programs at Tamarac public schools, officials have said.

Wright also created the Tamarac Economic Empowerment Dividend, or TEED, which provides qualifying District 2 residents on fixed incomes with $100 a month for six months. The program initially opened to 250 residents, including retirees, veterans, and people with disabilities.

He also championed a restrictive covenant protecting the Colony West Championship and Glades golf course, a measure commissioners approved in March 2024 that restricts the property to specific uses such as golf, recreation, open-space, and cultural use unless surrounding homeowners unanimously approve housing development there.

Wright’s campaign lists protecting green space, public safety, fiscal responsibility, infrastructure, and assistance for families, seniors, and small businesses among his priorities. He has chaired Tamarac’s Financial Audit Committee and represented the city on the Broward County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.

Earlier this year, the race between Gelin and Wright took a personal turn toward mudslinging.

In a June first-person article published by Tamarac Talk, Wright said political opponents were attempting to use the criminal record of his father, Morey Wright, against him, since father and son share the same name.

Wright wrote that he has never been arrested, charged with, or convicted of a crime and accused unnamed political opponents of trying to exploit the shared name.

“They are banking on the hope that voters won’t look past a headline or a shared name to see the man standing before them,” Wright wrote.

According to Wright’s account, his father served time in a low-security federal prison roughly 20 years ago for nonviolent charges related to marijuana distribution. Wright described his father as a U.S. Air Force veteran who rebuilt his life after prison.

Wright did not name the person or people he believed were responsible for circulating the information.

The race between Gelin and Wright also involves local political alliances. Wright is endorsed by Gomez, while Gelin has a longstanding alliance with Tamarac Commissioner Marlon Bolton, who endorsed Gelin in the 2018 District 2 race, which Gelin won with more than 65 percent of the vote. Their alliance continued after Gelin joined the commission, with the two aligning on a number of issues dealt with by the commission.

In October 2024, Gelin was among Bolton supporters gathered outside the Tamarac Library during early voting when Gelin became involved in a physical confrontation with then-Commissioner Elvin Villalobos.

The incident involving Villalobos led prosecutors to criminally charge Gelin in April 2025 with one misdemeanor count of simple battery. The charge did not result in a conviction.

In March 2026, prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi and declined to continue the case, according to court records. Villalobos said Gelin had to meet several conditions required by prosecutors.

Gelin was also arrested in Tamarac in 2015, years before he became a commissioner, but prosecutors declined to pursue that case after reviewing his cellphone recording.

Gelin had been filming Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies at an active scene when Deputy Joshua Gallardo confronted him. Gelin was arrested for resisting or obstructing an officer without violence.

The recording contradicted portions of Gallardo’s account, including the deputy’s claim that Gelin approached him. The video showed Gelin backing away as Gallardo moved toward him. Prosecutors declined to file charges.

The encounter made the news four years later after Gelin was elected to the commission.

During a September 2019 commission ceremony honoring BSO deputies, Gelin called Gallardo back to the front of the chambers and accused him of lying in his arrest report.

The Broward County Police Benevolent Association withdrew its endorsement of Gelin the next day, saying it objected to how he treated the deputy. Gelin defended the confrontation and maintained that his recording supported his account of the 2015 arrest.

Gelin is the founder and owner of Gelin Benefits Group, an employee benefits consulting and insurance brokerage firm he launched in 2015.

Wright, an executive at an e-commerce company, holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida and earned two master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University, one in government and another in business administration.

District 2 voters will choose between Wright and Gelin on Nov. 3.

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Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.