To beat Wasserman Schultz, Black candidates consider coalescing behind one person
Four of the Black candidates running in the Democratic primary for Florida’s 20th congressional district met in a closed-door meeting Monday to discuss coalescing behind one candidate in the hopes of beating U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Those present at the meeting, confirmed by three people, walked away with the clear focus that whittling the race down to Wasserman Schultz and a lone Black candidate would create the best opportunity to beat the congresswoman in a district that prior to last month was drawn to ensure Black representation.
But as of Tuesday evening, Wasserman Schultz’s opponents had yet to agree on who should carry that torch.
“I think we’re all going to come to some agreement before the end of qualifying,” said candidate Elijah Manley, who was at the gathering along with Luther Campbell, Dale Holness and ex-Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t say what’s going to happen,” Manley said on Tuesday. “We didn’t have an agreement last night but we did agree that we needed to consolidate. So that I believe is happening, and conversations are going on. They have been very constructive and fruitful.”
The maneuvering comes weeks after the Florida Legislature redrew the state’s voting maps in a way that dramatically altered South Florida’s congressional districts. The new map moved predominantly Black neighbors into white majority districts and split Wasserman Schultz’s former district five ways, leading her to launch a campaign for the 20th District.
Wasserman Schultz has said she was urged to run by the Congressional Black Caucus and received support from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. But the CBC has denied urging her to run for office and Jeffries stopped short of endorsing her.
Efforts to reach a spokesman for Wasserman Schultz were not immediately successful.
The 20th District was one of three Florida districts drawn by a federal court in 1992 under the Voting Rights Act as a remedy to racial discrimination, and led to the state’s first Black members of Congress since Reconstruction: Corrine Brown in Jacksonville, Alcee Hastings in Broward County and Carrie Meek in Miami-Dade County. Gov. Ron DeSantis targeted the 20th District when his office redrew Florida’s congressional maps reversing previous interpretations of the federal Voting Rights Act and bolstering Republicans chances of keeping the House in the midterms.
“If we allow them to erase the history, we’re back here all over again,” said Cherfilus-McCormick. “In this moment across the South, there’s been a clear attack on Black representation, Black people voting, and dilution. If we don’t get up at this point, then we’ll never get up.”
Cherfilus-McCormick also called on the Democratic Party and allies to speak up about what Wasserman Schultz’s presence in the race means regarding Black political representation.
“If they’re not going to unify and fight with us, then maybe we have to reconsider where we actually align ourselves,” she said. “We have been supporting every single Democratic person on the ballot, and for them not to support us in this moment is totally ridiculous, and we’re not standing for it.”
Campbell told the Miami Herald Tuesday that the congressional race is a watershed moment for the Democratic Party at a time when Black voters — particularly Black male voters — have felt disenfranchised from the party.
“At the end of the day, we all had a good conversion,” he said. “But the main thing is beating her.”
The deadline to qualify to make the ballot for the Aug. 18 primary is June 12.
