At Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s Ethics trial, Elijah Manley calls for troubled incumbent to step down

Democratic congressional candidate Elijah Manley showed up early for a front-row seat at U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s House Ethics trial.

The Fort Lauderdale Democrat, the first of now several intraparty rivals to challenge the incumbent in a Democratic Primary, said he thought it was important to travel to Washington for the proceedings.

“It’s important for the district to have some eyes into this entire process,” Manley said. “People are confused back at home, and I want to be able to report back to the district what’s happening. But also, as somebody who’s hoping to succeed the Congresswoman, I think being here is important.”

Cherfilus-McCormick will sit before an Ethics adjudicatory panel, where she faces 27 counts of violations, the most serious of which is an accusation she misdirected more than $5 million in pandemic funding into her congressional campaign account. She also faces federal criminal charges related to those allegations.

She has called allegations unjust and unfair.

“I reject these allegations and remain confident the full facts will make clear I did nothing wrong,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement after Ethics investigators issued findings.

Manley has continued to raise alarms about inconsistencies in her financial disclosures and reporting, accusing the Congresswoman of corruption, ethical violations and misuse of campaign funds.

“A lot of people thought I was crazy. I was a conspiracy theorist. She sued me saying that it was false,” Manley recalls. “It turns out it was completely correct. I saw the writing on the wall.”

Last year, Cherfilus-McCormick sued Manley for $1 million for libel and slander, accusing him of spreading “blatant lies.”

But a Judge in January dismissed the complaint, two months after the Justice Department announced she had been indicted by a grand jury.

“I saw the writing on the wall,” Manley said. “I just feel disappointed. Like everyone else in the district, we had high hopes for Sheila when she first got in. I thought she would be a great Congressperson and she would do great things, but she disappointed a lot of people.”

Now he thinks Cherfilus-McCormick should resign her seat. He felt that should have happened some time ago.

House Democrats have been reluctant to say the same. While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in November stripped Cherfilus-McCormick of a Subcommittee Chair position, he said she was “entitled to her day in court and the presumption of innocence,” and has said investigations and House procedure should play out.

Notably, Republicans hold just a 217-214 majority in the House.

Manley, though, said concerns about the lawmaker’s integrity outweigh other priorities.

“I believe that she should step aside and resign from office, especially if she is declared guilty by the Ethics Committee,” he said ahead of the trial.

“I understand that the House Democratic leadership in the caucus wants there to be due process. I believe she was given and afforded the opportunity to due process multiple times. So I think that’s fair for them to wait until the process plays out before they call for a resignation. But I think after today’s hearing, she should resign if she’s found guilty.”