A Republican, he was the first Haitian-American of a sizable city in the United States.

[1] Celestin was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti to a physician and emigrated to the United States in 1979.

[3] In 1997, he formed the Haitian-American Political Action Committee (HAPAC).

He sued to overturn the election, claiming that the results were tainted by illegally registered voters.

[9] In 2011 he ran for the State Senate for the position vacated by Frederica Wilson, who replaced Kendrick Meek in the U.S. House of Representatives.