Wasserman Schultz Wins Primary Over Indicted Ex-Rep
Wasserman Schultz Wins Primary Over Indicted Ex-Rep
The News
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the Democratic primary in Florida's 20th Congressional District on Tuesday, beating a field that included indicted former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and democratic socialist activist Elijah Manley.
The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman was running in a district she does not currently represent — one that is more than 60% black and Hispanic — after Florida Republicans redrew her old seat into GOP territory.
Bloomberg described the campaign as one "marked by controversy over race and redistricting." The New York Times reported she won over several black candidates who sharply criticized her decision to run there.
Timeline
Wasserman Schultz is first elected to Congress.
Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of stealing $5 million in COVID-19 relief funds meant for her family's healthcare company and laundering the money to her congressional campaign. She pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence. She faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Cherfilus-McCormick resigns from Congress minutes before the House Ethics Committee was set to sanction her, opening the 20th District seat.
Republicans in the Florida Legislature reconfigure Wasserman Schultz's former 25th District into a GOP stronghold — a seat President Trump would have carried by roughly 10 points in the 2024 presidential election. Some Democrats wanted her to defend the 25th anyway. She chose the 20th, which covers parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Manley tells CNN her move into the district is "cynical."
Wasserman Schultz is called the winner of the Democratic nomination.
Reactions
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to endorse her, citing what he called "the sensitivities of the moment in terms of an unprecedented Jim Crow-like assault on Black political representation."
Manley, a self-described "Democratic socialist" endorsed by the pro-Bernie Sanders group Our Revolution and by children's educator Ms. Rachel, told CNN on Monday: "I think it's cynical for the congresswoman to carpetbag into a district and try to take away black representation in a split field."
She did carry mainstream Democratic backing: the Broward County teachers' union, the gun control group Giffords, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and former Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.
The New York Post framed the result as a win "despite being forced to compete in a majority-minority district." Fox News called it a veteran Democrat defeating a scandal-plagued former lawmaker and a progressive challenger in Trump's backyard.
What's Next
Wasserman Schultz advances to the November general election in the 20th District, a heavily Democratic seat in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Cherfilus-McCormick still faces her federal fraud case. She has pleaded not guilty.
The fight over Florida's new congressional map — which pushed Wasserman Schultz out of her old district in the first place — continues to shape the state's midterm races.
More
Wasserman Schultz, a prolific fundraiser and for years one of her party's most visible national messengers, also had to navigate her party's shifting position on Israel during the campaign. Her old 25th District, redrawn to favor Republicans, is now a seat Trump would have won by about 10 points two years ago.
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