David Dermer (born 1963) was a Miami Beach City Commissioner before being elected as their Mayor. He is a lifelong Democrat, but supported

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

for United States president in 2004. His brother is

Ron Dermer Ronald Dermer (; born April 16, 1971) is an Israeli politician and diplomat serving as the Minister of Strategic Affairs since 2022 and as head of the negotiations for hostages release since February 2025. He served as the Israeli Ambassador to ...

, the former Israeli ambassador to the US and the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs since 2022 to Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

. His father Jay Dermer also served as mayor of Miami Beach.

Career

Dermer served as Mayor for three terms from 2002 until 2008. He also serves on the advisory board of the Sacred Grounds Foundation. In 2005, Dermer passed a law that banned sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, parks and other places frequented by minors. Fearing an influx of sex offenders from Miami Beach, other

Miami Dade County Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...

cities soon passed similar ordinances, eventually causing the

Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony The Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony (also called "Bookville" by former residents) was an encampment of banished, registered sex offenders who were living beneath the Julia Tuttle Causeway—a highway connecting Miami, Florida to Miami Be ...

to be created underneath the bridge linking Miami to Miami Beach. Ironically, Dermer's ordinance, which had been intended to exclude sex offenders from Miami Beach, instead resulted in sex offenders from all across the county being dumped on the entrance to Miami Beach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dermer, David 1963 births Living people Jewish American mayors Lawyers from Miami Mayors of Miami Beach, Florida American prosecutors Florida Republicans Miami Beach Senior High School alumni American University alumni Cumberland School of Law alumni 21st-century American Jews 21st-century mayors of places in Florida