Far-left Democratic House hopeful Elijah Manley accused incumbent Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Monday of trying to “take away black representation” by running in Florida’s black-majority 20th Congressional District.
Wasserman Schultz, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee and a member of Congress since 2005, is the only white candidate running in the 20th District and she’s facing four black opponents, including Manley, in Tuesday’s primary.
“I think it’s cynical for the congresswoman to carpetbag into a district and try to take away black representation in a split field,” Manley, who identifies as a “Democratic socialist,” said in an interview with CNN.
Wasserman Schultz, 59, opted to run in the 20th District after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implemented a new congressional map earlier this year which significantly altered her current district (Florida’s 25th) and the district where she lives (Florida’s 22nd) to make them more GOP-friendly.
The crowded field in the 20th District Democratic primary includes Manley, indicted former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 2 Live Crew rapper Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell and former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness.
Manley isn’t the only candidate taking issue with Wasserman Schultz’s run for the vacant Southeast Florida House seat.
“For her to come in like this is just another Broward seat, it’s a complete erasure of our history, our fight for Black access,” Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned from the seat in April amid a federal indictment and ethics probe into her alleged use of $5 million in COVID-19 relief funds on her political campaigns and luxury goods, told the Associated Press.
Wasserman Schultz, the best funded candidate in the deep blue district, maintains that she’s more than capable of representing the predominantly black and Hispanic district.
“I’m not air dropping myself into this district,” she told the Associated Press. “I have represented diverse communities. I know how to tailor my service to them and represent a district more broadly.”
