In addition to serving as Florida's Governor and U.S. Senator, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, after whom this county was named, was one of the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination for Vice President in 1908. His progressive politics, charismatic personality and colorful past appealed to the delegates.

However, the party's Presidential nominee, William Jennings Bryan, indicated that he would rather balance the ticket with a midwesterner rather than a southerner and the convention nominated John Worth Kern of Indiana instead.