Background
Celestin was born in Portuguese-au-Prince, Haiti to a physician and emigrated to the United States in 1979.
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Josaphat Celestin
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A Republican, he was elected the first Haitian-American mayor of a sizeable city in the United States. In 1996, Celestin ran for the Florida Legislature, but did not succeed. In 1997, he formed the Haitian-American Political Action Committee (HAPAC).
In 1998, he ran for the Florida Senate, but was not successful.
He sued to overturn the election, claiming that the results were tainted by illegally registered voters. Prior to his 2001 election as mayor, Celestin had also run for mayor in 1999.
In 2001, Celestin was elected as Mayor of North Miami, becoming the first Haitian-American of a sizeable United States city. He was re-elected in 2003 when the deadline for opponents passed with no challengers.
He left office in 2005 at the end of his second term of office as mayor - which is the term limit.
In 2009, Celestin had considered running for mayor again, but pulled out so as not to be "divisive". In 2011 he ran for the State Senate for the position vacated by Frederica Wilson, who replaced Kendrick Meek in the United States. House of Representatives. On March 1, 2011 he was defeated by Democrat Oscar Braynon.
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Born
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Nationality
United States -
Political Party
Republican party