Topline
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., won in the Democratic primary to represent a majority minority district in Florida—after Wasserman Schultz made the controversial decision to run in the newly drawn district when gerrymandering made hers more competitive.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., joins advocates to demand the Supreme Court defend Temporary Protected Status, during a news conference at Sak Pase Kitchen in Plantation, Florida, on May 1, 2026. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
TNS
Key Facts
Wasserman Schultz won roughly 48% of the vote shortly after the Associated Press called the race.
Wasserman Schultz, Florida’s longest- serving Democrat in federal office and former chair of the Democratic National Committee, opted to run in the 20th Congressional District when the formerly safely blue district she represents, covering Broward County, was dismantled to include more Trump voters and is now rated a toss-up by election forecasters.
The 20th Congressional District was also redrawn, and is no longer majority Black, but Black votes still make up 42% of the voting age population, while more than 23% is Hispanic, according to the political news site Florida Politics.
Wasserman Schultz ran against four Black candidates: progressive Elijah Manley, former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness, rapper-turned-community activist Luke Campbell and former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., who resigned from the same seat she’s now running for in April after she was charged with stealing federal COVID-19 relief funds (she has denied the allegations).
Tangent
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., ran in Tuesday’s Democratic primary to represent the 25th Congressional District Wasserman Schultz currently represents, after Moskowitz’s home address was drawn out of the 23rd Congressional District. The 25th Congressional District race is the latest to pit an establishment candidate, Moskowitz, against a progressive, socialist Oliver Larkin.
Key Background
Florida’s 20th Congressional District has been represented by a Black Democrat for more than 30 years. Prior to Cherfilus-McCormick, former Rep. Alcee Hastings held the seat from the 1990s until his death in 2021. It’s been vacant since Cherfilus-McCormick resigned. Some Black Democrats were angered by Wasserman Schultz’s decision, including president of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, Armando Grundy-Gomes, who endorsed Manley and told MS NOW, “our preferred candidate would be anyone other than Debbie Wasserman Schultz.” She has defended her decision by blaming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislature for the gerrymandering and touting her record in Congress, noting she has represented a large portion of Broward County previously. DeSantis signed the new map into law in May, moving four seats held by Democrats, including Wasserman Schultz and Moskowitz’s, into more Republican-friendly territory.
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