If you had asked Dwayne Robinson ten years ago where he would be in 2025, sitting in the House of Assembly as a Member of Parliament in a week’s time would have been far down the list.

For the majority of his life, the 30-year-old believed he would be a lawyer or psychologist.

“I ended up settling on law but I ended up getting the business bug and going to business school,” he said.

“I hated it and I realised that higher education wasn’t for me.”

Mr Robinson spent much of his time working and filming comedy skits, as well as running a satirical web series.

However, after he decided to follow his interest in politics, he went from a political commentator to an active participant in the Senate.

Mr Robinson now represents Southampton East Central for the One Bermuda Alliance after winning his first election last month.

He lives in the area with his wife and three-year-old son and called the opportunity to represent his community a “huge honour”.

He added: “I feel a sense of not only validation for all of the work that I’ve put in but want to do more work to reward the people who have put all their faith in me.

“I don’t want them to feel like their faith was misplaced, so it’s kind of motivating me as well to really get out there and do the best I can in the roles that I’ve been elected to do.”

Mr Robinson won the seat with 468 votes against 300 votes for Mischa Fubler, of the Progressive Labour Party.

He has also been selected as the Shadow Minister of Tourism, Culture and Transport.

Mr Robinson was once part of the comedy satire group, It’s That Type of Party. He and his cohost, Trae Cannonier, the son of former premier Craig Cannonier, discussed politics and current events.

He met Mr Cannonier, then the leader of the OBA, through his cohost and was invited to serve in the party in 2019.

He said: “That was my wake-up call, when I said ‘well, you’re passionate about it, you’re researching it, you’re doing all this stuff — why not take the opportunity to actually go out there and see if you could represent people and be the politician you were asking others to be?’”

His first election run was during the Pembroke Central (Constituency 17) by-election in 2019 against Jason Hayward.

Mr Hayward was running in only his second election but was no stranger to the political scene. He had served as the president of the Bermuda Public Services Union since 2014 and ran in the 2017 General Election for the PLP in Pembroke West (Constituency 19).

Mr Hayward lost the race to Jeanne Atherden, who held the seat with almost 57 per cent of the vote, but he entered the Pembroke Central by-election after the death of PLP MP Walton Brown Jr. He wound up winning with 311 votes to Mr Robinson’s 173.

Mr Robinson admitted that he knew he had jumped into the deep end of politics by running against Mr Hayward, especially in a PLP stronghold.

However, he said that he saw it as a good way to gain experience and show that he was willing to serve regardless of the challenges.

“It wasn’t as bad of a thrashing as I was supposed to get,” Mr Robinson added. “I was a political nobody. I had just come on the scene, I was 23 years old and people were like ‘what can this boy contribute?’.

“I think it kind of showed people an inkling of my competency and my willingness to serve.”

From then on, his goal was to keep trying.

Mr Cannonier brought him in as a senator in November 2018 and he cut his political teeth discussing legislation with more seasoned politicians.

Mr Robinson then stood as the OBA candidate in Warwick West (Constituency 28) in the 2020 General Election.

He received 329 votes but lost to the PLP’s Dennis Lister III, who held the seat with 498 votes.

Mr Robinson left the Senate after his defeat in 2020 but still climbed the ranks within his party. He was elected deputy co-chair of the OBA in 2022. The next year, he returned to the Senate floor.

The secret to his growth, Mr Robinson explained, was his commitment to connecting with those with different viewpoints and reaching a respectful conclusion.

He added that he had to learn to balance this with his sense of “unwavering ideals and unwavering morals”.

Mr Robinson said: “I refuse to say, do, or be anything other than myself.

“That, sometimes, will have you knocked out of certain opportunities.

“But what I will say is that, if you stay true to yourself, the opportunities that are meant for you will find you, as long as you continue to work hard and be true.”

Mr Robinson wants people to see that he is willing to listen and engage with others, even if he does not agree with them.

He added that this, combined with his frequent canvassing and personal roots in Southampton East Central, helped him finally find success last month.

Now in his new position, Mr Robinson feels that a new chapter of his life has started — and it is up to him to commit to it.

He said: “My political ambitions, at this moment, are to show Bermuda and C30 the type of representative that I believe all of Bermuda should have.

“I want to uphold a certain standard of politics that I feel Bermudians are asking for us to do.

“But right now, it’s to be a good MP.”

Mr Robinson thanked his campaign team for their help during the election, as well as his wife, mother and family.