Black community speaks out against potential Debbie Wasserman Schultz candidacy in CD 20

Under a new map passed by Florida’s Legislature, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman needs to find a new political home. Black leaders in Florida’s 20th Congressional District would prefer she look elsewhere.

It’s already been a tough year for the North Lauderdale area congressional district. First, U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the Miramar Democrat representing CD 20 since 2021, resigned as she faces federal criminal charges. She was one of two Black women in Florida’s congressional delegation, but now faces allegations she stole more than $5 million in federal disaster relief to fund her congressional ambitions.

Then, the district was targeted by Gov. Ron DeSantis when his Office created the new Florida map. The Governor made dismantling the majority Black seat a top mission when his staff drew fresh lines. He wanted drafters to presume that the U.S. Supreme Court would toss requirements in the Voting Rights Act to preserve majority minority seats.

“It’s really unfortunate that we are in the situation we are in,” said state Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat.

A third blow may bring an extra sting of betrayal, Osgood said, if Wasserman Schultz, a Weston Democrat, shifts her candidacy to CD 20 and potentially brings a close to 34 years of Black congressional representation.

Osgood said she has had personal conversations with Wasserman Schultz and discouraged such a political move. But she fears the incumbent, who saw her seat in the prior Florida’s 25th Congressional District carved into three different seats, will run in the open CD 20 seat out of political expediency.

Wasserman Schultz, for her part, has not announced any final decision about where she will run. Sources close to her say she likely will avoid a Democratic Primary with another sitting Democrat. Those close to U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat, say he will likely run in a now-coastal CD 25. But that leaves Wasserman Schultz, the longest-serving Democrat in Florida’s congressional delegation, politically homeless.

“DeSantis just today signed Republicans’ latest illegal, gerrymandered Congressional maps,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement to Florida Politics. “Today, I’m focused on fighting Trump and Republicans to help make everyday costs more affordable for South Floridians, like housing, gas, groceries and healthcare.“

There’s still a chance courts will toss the new map. The Equal Ground Education Fund filed a lawsuit within hours of DeSantis signing the map, in part asserting that he wrongly ignored provisions of Florida’s Constitution forbidding the drawing of lines to diminish minority voting power or to benefit a political party.

But the map for now is state law, and Wasserman Schultz must decide where to run before a qualifying deadline at noon on June 12.

Already, six other candidates, notably including Cherfilus-McCormick, were filed in CD 20 before redistricting. All are Black. Considering nearly 68% of voters in the district under the new lines voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential Election, the Democratic Primary almost certainly will determine who represents the district in the next Congress.

None in the current field boast the $2.5 million war chest that Wasserman Schultz built, a benefit of incumbency. She also first won a seat in Congress in 2004, and across her 22-year career served as Chair of the Democratic National Committee for five years.

That could give her a huge advantage in a potentially fractured field of Black candidates, even though a plurality of the voting age population if the district, more than 42%, is Black.

This weekend, the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus issued a statement strongly discouraging a run by Wasserman Schultz in CD 20.

“Black voters have always been the Soul of the Democratic Party, and Florida’s 20th Congressional District has been an anchor of Black political representation for over three decades. We have a duty to speak on what happens to it next,” the statement reads.

“Names have surfaced of non-Black candidates considering entering the August primary for FL-20, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, most prominent among them. We are speaking out before filing decisions become final, so that no one enters this primary without knowing where our community stands.”

Several Democratic candidates also oppose the move. Elijah Manley, who raised $780,000 as he challenged Cherfilus-McCormick, said he will run in CD 20 regardless. “In this moment, with Ron DeSantis sitting working to dismantle Black representation in Florida, and the Supreme Court facilitating it, a non-Black candidate running in a historically Black seat is a contribution to that project,” he said.

Luther Campbell, former frontman for rap group 2 Live Crew, also has been running for the seat and posted a video suggesting that a run in a fractured Black field would be a throwback to before the Civil Rights movement.

“Be the only White person in the race, so all the Black candidates will divide themselves and she’ll conquer. Isn’t that something they’ve been doing? Divide the Black community and conquer them?” Campbell said. “Debbie, I know you’re not going to try to do that, because if you do, you got to deal with me, sweetie boogie.”

Former Broward Mayor Dale Holness, another candidate, also made a politically strategic argument. Why, with a Florida map with only four safe Democratic seats, should a Democratic incumbent as powerful as Wasserman Schultz, run in a seat almost certain to send a Democrat to Congress in the Fall?

Meanwhile, the DeSantis map has reshaped Florida’s 22nd Congressional District to include Wasserman Schultz’s Weston home. The seat spans most of the width of Florida, to Marco Island on the Gulf coast. It’s a seat Donald Trump won with just under 55% of the vote in 2024, but where a majority voted for Democrat Joe Biden for President in 2020.

“It is an R+10, but the swings we have generated this year in Special Elections were higher,” Holness said. “With proper funding and support, we can win that district. And she, more than anyone else, is positioned to take that seat.”

Osgood said in her own conversation with Wasserman Schultz, she asked if the longtime incumbent needed a seat in Congress to be effective at all anymore. But she said the Congresswoman countered by explaining the amount of political capital that comes with seniority. Wasserman Schultz currently serves as the No. 2 Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a position with that much more influence if Democrats win a majority in the House.

Of note, Wasserman Schultz wouldn’t be the first non-Black member of Congress representing a predominantly Black district in the House. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, represents a majority Black seat in the Volunteer State, unless Republicans dismantle that as well.

But Osgood, CD 20 represents more to the South Florida community. Created in 1992, it came to be at the same time three majority Black seats were created in Florida for the first time in history. It sent the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings to Congress as one of the first three elected Democrats to represent Florida in Washington, and Hastings held the seat until his death in 2021.

Of note, Wasserman Schultz worked closely with Hastings, casting his votes by proxy during the COVID pandemic, working together on Everglades funding, and eventually succeeding him as Democratic co-Chair of Florida’s congressional delegation.

But Osgood doesn’t think that entitles Wasserman Schultz to his seat now.

“This seat was drawn to give a person of color a seat at the table,” Osgood said.

“By no means am I saying a White person or a Jewish person can’t represent someone. I’m Black and represent White people in my district. But this seat was created to make sure we have Black representation. It was what we fought so hard for, and to think this could reduce the number of members in the Congressional Black Caucus in D.C. is not acceptable.”