The vice chair of Florida’s Democratic Party who was reportedly planning a run for Congress was found dead in her home Wednesday morning and her husband was arrested in connection with the suspected domestic violence incident.
Nancy Metayer Bowen, the 38-year-old vice mayor of Coral Springs, Florida, died sometime in the morning at her home.
Her husband, 40-year-old Stephen Bowen, was arrested in what police are probing “as a domestic violence incident,” authorities said during a press conference later in the day.
The exact manner of Metayer Bowen’s death is still unclear. Police have not released any further details.
Metayer Bowen, a first-generation Haitian-American, showed prowess on the political stage even before her storied career in Florida.
After graduating from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she secured internships with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, former Sen. Bill Nelson and ex-President Barack Obama’s administration, according to her LinkedIn.
She took a short break from politics to pivot to charity work in Haiti before circling back to Florida. There, she started her first job in the Broward County government as a program manager for the Junior Sustainability Stewards Program.
Metayer Bowen, 38, quickly rose through the ranks of several nonprofit organizations and even founded one of her own, while balancing her various duties in government, according to her LinkedIn.
She was tapped to serve as Coral Springs’ vice mayor in late 2024. In her announcement, she promised to continue “building a brighter, more inclusive future for us all.”
That same year, she linked with former President Joe Biden’s re-election team and, after he dropped out of the presidential race, pivoted to Kamala Harris’ campaign as their Florida Caribbean vote director.
In March 2025, she was named the Florida Democratic Party’s Vice Chair of Haitian American Voter Engagement.
“Throughout her years in public office, she led with integrity, compassion, and an unwavering sense of purpose. She believed in bringing people together, listening to those she served, and working tirelessly to create positive change in her community. To us, she was a source of strength, wisdom, and love—someone who always put others before herself,” Metayer Bowen’s family wrote in a statement.
Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz confirmed in a post on X that Metayer Bowen was weeks away from announcing her own campaign for Congress.
“Nancy was one of the nicest people I worked with. Always fighting for her community, always pushing to help. She had such a future. This is terrible,” he wrote.
Moskowitz also referenced Metayer Bowen’s youngest brother’s recent passing.
Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, 26, took his own life in December 2025 after a years-long battle against schizophrenia. He was a survivor of the Parkland high school shooting.
Metayer Bowen’s death is still under investigation.
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