Presidential candidate Wayne Messam visits Watertown High
The Democrat from Florida talked Climate Change, student loans, life lessons, and more during 45-minute Q-and-A on May 22
Presidential candidate Wayne Messam (in suit) poses with students and teachers after a question-and-answer session at Watertown (Mass.) High School on May 22, 2019.
June 27, 2019
On June 26 and June 27, two debates were held featuring 20 Democratic candidates for president. Wayne Messam was not among the 20 in Miami, partly due to his not announcing his candidacy until late March 2019 — shortly after he won re-election as mayor of Miramar, Fla.
Messam was a wide receiver on Florida Stateâs 1993 national championship team. A few years later, he formed a construction company. He was elected to Miramarâs City Commission in 2011, then was elected mayor in 2015.
On the campaign trail, he visited Watertown High School on May 22, 2019, and talked with a lecture hall full of students and educators. The 45-minute question-and-answer included conversations about Climate Change, student loans, life lessons, and what itâs like to run for president.
Here are highlights from his Q and A at WHS. (Transcript edited for clarity and space.)
Wayne Messam, on his background
âMy parents immigrated to the country from Jamaica. My father was a contract sugar cane cutter who was recruited to come do very hard labor in South Florida where there is a very large sugar production industry. He actually cut sugar cane for 75 cents a row. Â
âWhat I wanted to impart to you was that I was once in your shoes ⌠I want you to know that you can be whoever you choose to be, if youâre willing to work for it. It wonât be easy at times, but if you surround yourself with positive role models, if you surround yourselves with like-minded individuals that are goal-oriented, you can actually do what you want to do.Â
âSo I want to encourage you all, as you are making your decisions in terms of where your next stepâs going to be in life, that you stay woke, that you be engaged in the civic and political process, because this nation will need what you may bring. If you sit back and do nothing, then nothing will happen, but if you get engaged, and be a part of the process, you can make an impact in this country. Thatâs what I chose to do.”Â
WHS: âCan you describe your pathway to become Mayor?â
Messam: âWhen my NFL career was cut short, a few years later my wife and I formed a professional construction company … We are a climate-conscious builder and general contractor … I received that designation back in 2009 long before I came into elected office. So when I talk about Climate Change and sustainable practice and infrastructure, itâs not something Iâm just bringing up because Iâm running for office. Itâs been professionally a part of my life since 2009.Â
âI was recently elected this past March to have a second term as mayor. I won re-election with 86 percent of the vote, which, in a normal sense and terms, is a pretty substantial victory. But I still kind of thought back that thereâs about 13 percent of the voters that voted against me, so I still have a little work to do in my city. Â
WHS: âWhatâs your No. 1 issue that makes you want to become president?â
Messam: âWell, my No. 1 issue that when I launched my campaign — and my campaign is just under two months old — was that I made a knee-jerk proposal to forgive $1.5 trillion of outstanding student loan debt. Iâm the first candidate to make that proposal ⌠Thereâs $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loans. This affects about 44 million Americans, really impacting the financial upward mobility of these individuals, because theyâre holding on average $30,000 a year, paying about $400 a month. Itâs stopping them from being able to purchase a home, start a business, or even invest in their retirement âŚ
âHow am I going to pay for it? Well, Iâm going to propose to repeal the tax cuts that were given to major corporations and the richest of Americans, which actually amounted to over $2 trillion last year alone. So that would be the money source.â

WHS: âWhat is your position on abortion policy?â
Messam: âPersonally, my position is that I trust women and their families and their health care professionals to make the best decisions for themselves. I think that what weâre seeing in terms of these statesâ statutes that are popping up all over the country is deliberate and is intentional âŚ
âTo have an abortion is already a very tough, personal decision that a woman and her health-care professional and her family has to make, so for government to inject itself in that process I just personally believe that is not right. Â
WHS: What are your thoughts on resolving the issue of Americaâs contributions to carbon emissions?â
Messam: âAmerica has obviously been a large contributor to carbon emissions because of factories and issues along that track. I thought that it was a very big mistake for President Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, where the largest polluters globally got together to talk about the reduction of our carbon emissions. We need to act together, right now, because in 10 years weâll have irreversible damage to the quality of the air âŚ
âAs a country, we all need to move towards a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Iâm a realist. Iâm not one of these candidates that will say, âOvernight, we will move from fossil fuels to renewable energyâ because itâs just not practical. We have to build an infrastructure to support renewable energy. But one thing that I do know is that in the process to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we need to invest in more renewable energy. We spend $56 billion a year in fossil fuel subsidies. Thatâs our military protecting oil fields, thatâs our country paying for any assets that are needed to assist energy companies to extract fossil fuel from the Earth. Now I want to shift that funding over towards investments into the design and development and infrastructure for renewable energy.â
WHS: âWhatâs been the most surprising part about running for president?â
Messam: âI definitely still have my business I have to run, I have a great team that manages my private business, and I have a city that I have. I have commission meetings twice a month, I have workshops, I build my campaign around my obligations as mayor.
âA very big part of this process is raising money, and Iâm one of those candidates who, Iâm fighting for every dollar I earn in donations, Iâm fighting for every earned media opportunity that I get…
âWhat Iâve learned the most is that we are so much alike. We want the same things in the terms of great quality of life. Parents want the best for their children. Everyday Americans want a job. They want to be able to work one job and take care of a familyâŚ
âNever be afraid. Never think that thereâs something thatâs out of your reach, because if you work for it, you can definitely achieve it.â

WHS: âHas Miramar had to deal with race issues?â
Messam: âBecause of our diversity in our city, itâs common for folks to see different people. Racism is everywhere, however itâs not a big issue in our city. We really try to be very intentional about the way the city operations and the police department reflects the community, so thereâs really not much of an issue from a numbers standpoint.
âWhat I think, though, is that being the first black mayor of the city of Miramar, Iâm not just mayor for the black residents in our community; Iâm mayor for all of our residents.â
WHS: âHow would students go about getting involved with your — or anyone elseâs — campaign?â
Messam: âWhether itâs me or anyone else, I would advise you to give a call and volunteer on a campaign. It doesnât necessarily have to be a presidential campaign. It could be your local City Council or City Commission or County Commission. So that you can understand what the issues are.Â
âI think that itâs important that you get involved in the process. Otherwise, when you become adults and on your own and you start seeing lawmakers making decisions that you just donât agree with, then if you think about it, if you havenât been involved in the process, who can you blame? If youâre not at the table where policies are being discussed, your interests and your viewpoints are not being heard⌠Get involved to make sure there is action on those issues that are important to you.â

WHS: âWhat did football mean to you?â
Messam: âThe game of football, I always said, is the perfect sport. There are other sports that are great as well, because thereâs so many life lessons. You have your individual accomplishments that you have to do, to be better personally. But you have to fit in that team environment to perform a more specific role in the team.
âAthletics forced me to be disciplined. It forced me to set a goal, to realize the times when I wasnât the best person for the job, and I had to sit on the bench, because someone else was a better fit for that scenario. Learning how to deal with that, to work harder, to make myself an investment, youâre going to come across that in life⌠youâre going to be working with people that will be a part of your team, and some you may not like. You have to learn to coexist, to work towards a greater cause and the goals of that organization. Being involved in sports has taught me all of those skill setsâŚ
âDonât be afraid of pressure. Put yourself in those high-stakes situations, because once you do it enough, then it just becomes normal.â
–June 27, 2019–