Debbie Wasserman Schultz faces another primary challenge. But it’s not like 2016.

Broward Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, is facing a left-leaning 2020 primary challenge from Jen Perelman, who is endorsed by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

But Yang’s blessing and Perelman’s 38,000 Twitter followers may not be a real test of Wasserman Schultz’s political clout in August, based on her 13-point win in 2016 over her previous challenger: Nova Southeastern University law professor Tim Canova, who had $4 million in cash to spend, largely from supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Wasserman Schultz’s victory four years ago came just a month after she resigned from the top job at the DNC after leaked emails showed the organization’s support for Hillary Clinton over Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary.

In the last four years, Wasserman Schultz has maintained a lower profile in Washington while continuing to stay active on issues such as Israel and Venezuela that matter to the blue-leaning district, which stretches from Weston across Broward County before snaking into Northeast Miami-Dade County.

That means Perelman, who has a substantial online following but little cash to wage a traditional campaign fueled by advertisements and mailers, faces a tough slog in the weeks before the Aug. 18 primary.

“Debbie has been my congresswoman for 16 years. I used to vote for her,” Perelman said. “There’s two main reasons why I’m running against her. One, she takes way too much corporate money to actually serve her constituents, and two, shes’ a careerist.”

In a statement, Wasserman Schultz did not address Perelman’s criticisms but focused instead on the coronavirus pandemic and her recent record in Congress, including fighting to protect the Affordable Care Act as Republicans tried to dismantle it, securing funds for Everglades restoration and getting members of Congress access to immigrant detention centers like the now-shuttered Homestead facility after the Trump administration initially denied them.

“I am singularly focused on getting this pandemic under control, saving lives, and ensuring families are financially secure due to the catastrophic mishandling of it by this incapable Republican president and governor,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Building on our House majority and winning the Senate and White House back are crucial ways to ensure that happens.”

Perelman, though, said her roots in the district as a Jewish woman and greater levels of nationwide support in the last four years for policies like Medicare for All will help her win more votes than Wasserman Schultz’s challenger in 2016.

“Twenty-sixteen was four years ago. It was pre-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It was pre-Trump. It was pre-COVID. It was pre- a lot of things,” Perelman said. “We now have an additional four years of people watching the crumbling of our country.”

But unlike Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated longtime New York Congressman Joe Crowley in 2018, Perelman hasn’t had a string of high-profile progressive endorsements or millions in small-dollar donations. She has been endorsed by Yang and is a proponent of his signature policy idea, a universal basic income that is distributed to all Americans, but progressive groups that could deliver money and organizational muscle to the race have largely stayed away.

William Byatt, a Sanders delegate from Miami-Dade County and member of the county’s progressive caucus, said defeating Wasserman Schultz is not a priority in 2020.

“I have very significant policy disagreements with Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz but in order to mount an effective challenge to her, we would need to see a lot more widespread grassroots energy than Perelman has been able to get,” Byatt said. “We, as South Florida progressives, have other priorities.”

Byatt said Wasserman Schultz has great constituent services and is well known in the district, which makes it harder for Perelman to persuade voters outside the far left to support her.

“I’m super stoked that at least someone is making Wasserman Schultz work for it, but I don’t think this is the year,” Byatt said.

And sending Wasserman Schultz back to Washington for another two years could help South Florida if her bid to lead the House Appropriations Committee is successful. Wasserman Schultz could lead the House committee responsible for billions of dollars in federal spending if Democrats maintain control of the House.

Joseph Mullen, an 18-year-old recent high school graduate who is Sanders’ lone DNC delegate from Wasserman Schultz’s congressional district, said he thinks primary challenges to powerful lawmakers like Wasserman Schultz keep them accountable while they make important decisions in Washington.

“In my opinion, all primary races against Democrats are a net benefit for the party in blue districts,” said Mullen, who is an undecided primary voter. “With Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz aiming for the appropriations chairmanship, I think it’s important to use a primary challenger to push her more on the left on the issues, even in the event she wins.”

On policy, Perelman differs from Wasserman Schultz on many issues. Perelman supports Medicare for All, legalizing marijuana, opposes the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and opposes the decision to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader rather than Nicolás Maduro.

“I do not support our country tweeting a new leader of a sovereign nation. I think that’s outrageous,” Perelman said.

She said Wasserman Schultz “speaks for a very small niche of people. They refer to themselves as ‘Westonzuela’, a niche of affluent, much more white Venezuelans” who live near Weston in western Broward County.

Wasserman Schulz, one of the most vocal Guaidó supporters in the Democratic Party, said that, “until free elections are held, I will not support a brutal Maduro regime’s violent, oppressive and anti-democratic rule,” and noted that over 50 countries have recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s rightful leader.

Mullen, the Sanders delegate, said that while some supporters of the Vermont senator still hold a grudge against Wasserman Schultz due to her DNC leadership, their anger hasn’t translated into grassroots support for Perelman’s candidacy.

“In 2016, there was a lot of anger from activists on the left from what happened,” Mullen said. “This year, I don’t really know if that anger is at the same fever pitch.”

This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 6:00 AM.