Broward County supervisor of elections Brenda Snipes has found herself at the center of the election recount in Florida, where three statewide races remain undecided more than a week after Election Day.
As the high-stakes recount has proceeded, Snipes has been maligned as a Democratic partisan who’s working to hand the election to her party.
There’s no evidence of voter fraud or criminal activity. And according to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, the notion that Snipes is trying to engineer a victory for Democrats is even more off-base because, as Mitchell claimed, Snipes is a Republican.
“We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican appointed by former governor, then-Gov. Jeb Bush,” Mitchell said Nov. 12. “So she was put in by a Republican governor after the mess that we all remember from 2000. And she’s hardly a Democratic official, or someone doing the bidding of the Democratic candidates there.”
Mitchell is wrong about Snipes’ party affiliation: She’s a Democrat. But, again, it’s important to note we’ve seen no evidence Snipes has done anything untoward on her party’s behalf during the Florida recount.
Snipes: ‘I have been a Democrat all my life’
Mitchell is apparently not the only person confused about Snipes’ political affiliation.
In an interview with CNN, Snipes said she recently corrected someone who mistakenly believed she was a Republican:
“I was talking with a woman today, as she came into our office, and she made some statement — a partisan statement — and she said, ‘I know that you’re a Republican.’ I said, ‘I have been a Democrat all my life.’ In this position, I have been very focused on party, because I want to treat all of the voters in Broward County the same. And I think if you’d ask the voters, I have that reputation.”
At look at Snipes’ biography on the Broward County supervisor of elections website also lists her as a Democrat.
Countless media reports also refer to Snipes’ Democratic affiliation. To take just one example, here’s an article from the South Florida Sun Sentinel about Snipes’ 2016 re-election bid, which references her party affiliation.
“Snipes, a Democrat, was appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003, after he removed her predecessor Miriam Oliphant,” the 2015 article reads. “Snipes went on to win three elections.”
Snipes went on to win the 2016 Democratic primary by a whopping 53 percentage points.
PolitiFact also referenced Snipes’ Democratic affiliation in a fact-check we wrote during the 2016 presidential election.
We attempted to reach Mitchell through a press contact for her NBC show but did not hear back.
Our ruling
Mitchell said Snipes is a Republican.
That’s wrong. Snipes describes herself as a lifelong Democrat, and references in government documents and countless media reports back up this affiliation.
We rate this False.
Truth-o-meter Ruling
Statement
Says "Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican."
Context
on MSNBCSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
Andrea Mitchell Reports, Nov. 12, 2018
PolitiFact, "No, Hillary Clinton did not meet with Broward elections supervisor Brenda Snipes," Oct. 31, 2016
PolitiFact, "No evidence Democrats and their allies ‘manufacturing voters’ in Florida recount," Nov. 13, 2018
South Florida Sun Sentinel, "Snipes starts re-election campaign for 2016," Sept. 22, 2015
Broward County Supervisor of Elections website
Real Clear Politics, "CNN's Chris Cuomo Interviews Brenda Snipes: "I Have Not Made Any Decisions" About Political Future," Nov. 14, 2018
Translations
Language: en