CD 20 candidate drops out, backs former rivals, blasts Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Just a few months after announcing he was running, repeat congressional candidate Rudolph “Rudy” Moise is exiting the contest for Florida’s 20th Congressional District in Broward County.

Moise is also backing two of his former opponents and condemning a third.

Moise is dropping out, he said, to prevent the race from becoming too “fractured” as a new congressional map that GOP lawmakers recently forced through is causing consternation among Democratic South Florida incumbents and candidates.

The Haitian American physician, lawyer and Air Force veteran offered a dual endorsement of former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness and rapper-turned-activist Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell.

Moise conspicuously omitted progressive activist Elijah Manley, who is also running, and had harsh words for U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who entered the CD 20 fray last week despite the admonition of numerous Black leaders who asked her to run elsewhere.

Campbell, Holness, Manley and Moise are Black. Wasserman Schultz is White.

In his Sunday statement, Moise praised Holness’ years of public service, which he said was “defined by a commitment to expanding access, building opportunity, and ensuring that communities too often left behind have a seat at the table.”

He called Campbell an untraditional politician whose life’s work is “rooted in standing up for his community.”

“He is a businessman, cultural figure, youth mentor, coach, and longtime advocate who has helped open doors for young people, create opportunities, and fight for free speech at the highest levels of this country,” Moise added.

Either candidate would serve Florida well, Moise said, and protect the legacy of the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, whose stepdaughter, Maisha Williams, is also among the candidates seeking the seat.

Moise characterized Wasserman Schultz’s run in a district where she doesn’t live as insincere political opportunism.

“I strongly disagree with (her) decision to run in District 20, a district long viewed as an important voice for Black and Brown communities in South Florida. This seat should never become a political fallback plan or a vehicle for political survival while the very communities it was created to empower risk being pushed aside,” he said.

“We cannot afford another fractured race. We cannot afford another missed opportunity. And we certainly cannot afford leadership driven by political ambition instead of accountability to the people.”

Moise filed to run in January for CD 20, which covers an inland portion of Broward spanning all or part of Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Plantation, Sunrise, Tamarac and Wilton Manors. It marked his third bid for federal office, following unsuccessful 2010 and 2012 campaigns.

He entered hoping to supplant then-U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat who resigned from Congress in April while facing federal charges of stealing government funds, money laundering and campaign finance violations. Cherfilus-McCormick, however, is also running to reclaim her seat.

Moise this week joins a growing chorus of Black leaders publicly questioning Wasserman Schultz’s move. Miami Gardens state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a longtime Wasserman Schultz ally and former Oakland Park resident, said he won’t back her, calling “Black representation … a non-negotiable.”

The Florida Legislative Black Caucus issued a statement calling her decision “disheartening” and noting that Caucus Chair Felicia Robinson’s request for a pre-announcement meeting went unanswered.

The Midterm dynamics of South Florida shifted dramatically this month after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new congressional map reshaping South Florida’s political terrain. The Governor’s Office contends the map was drawn in a “race-neutral” fashion in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act.

CD 20, formerly a majority-Black seat with a D+22 Cook Partisan Voting Index rating, is now a plurality-Black district with 42% Black, 23% Hispanic and 30% White voting-age residents.

The map dismantled Wasserman Schultz’s current CD 25, prompting her CD 20 pivot.

Three separate lawsuits — from Equal Ground, the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause — now challenge the map as a partisan gerrymander.