Debbie Wasserman Schultz Carpetbags Into Black District!

Jar Jar Binks runs in safe Florida Black district. Desparate to hold on to power and an objective to keep voting to fund Israel.

Florida decided to do its controversial redistricting to help the unpopular Republicans hold a majority in the state. The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman who is currently a representative in the U.S. House had her district drawn out.

Now in a desperation move, the pro Israel Democrat is now running in a district that has a majority Black constituency. It is drawing a backlash.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) deserves to lose. Her staunch support of Israel, her tone deafness to the issues in her own district and the support of status quo politics will doom her.

Schultz has supported the Iran aggression. She criticized President Donald J. Trump for being willing to cave to Iran. That right there shows more concern for the interests of Israel.

She was one of the voters who condemned Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in a resolution that censured her for calling Israel an apartheid genocidal ethnostate.

Some of the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supporters believe she rigged the delegates progress to push forward former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

She is one of the sponsors of the definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Wasserman Schultz also condemned Hasan Piker, a far left agitator who calls for an end to Israel aid and assistance.

Now she wants the seat that former lawmaker Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick held.

Wasserman Schultz's decision to run in a historically Black district intensified when 10 members of the Florida Democratic National Committee issued a joint statement formally condemning one of the party’s most veteran lawmakers.

Wasserman Schultz decided to abandon District 25 for the safer, deep-blue waters of District 20 after the Florida Legislature—under heavy pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump—redrew the state's congressional map to aggressively favor Republicans.

While Wasserman Schultz represented the same geographic pocket and Democratic stronghold of southern Broward County for over 21 years, the newly enacted map scattered the congresswoman’s traditional suburban base across five separate districts. The reengineered District 25 is now a skinny, coastal strip running along the Atlantic Ocean from Delray Beach in Palm Beach County to barrier islands in Miami-Dade County.

Black leaders criticize Wasserman Schultz move to District 20

“Our party cannot credibly denounce the dismantling of Black political power by Republicans while treating one of Florida’s few remaining majority-Black districts as a political opportunity for an incumbent seeking a safer seat,” the state DNC members said in the joint letter Tuesday.

Among the state DNC members signing letters was Vice Chair Daniel Henry, former State Rep. Sean Shaw and Tampa City Councilman Alan Clendenin.

The Florida Black Caucus issued its own statement on May 22, saying District 20 was established to remedy decades of racial exclusion. “Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz's decision to pursue reelection in this historically Black district, despite explicit request from the Black community to seek candidacy in a neighboring district, is disheartening," the Caucus said.

The friends you keep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Debbie Wasserman Schultz are pro Israel lawmakers. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned under pressure. Wasserman Schultz now wants to creep into the seat.

State Sen. Shevrin Jones said the issue was not about Wasserman Schultz’s leadership. “My fight is for Black representation, and I am in the business of expanding it, not diminishing it,” he said. “Everyone deserves to have a seat at the table.”

District 20 was represented by Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, but she resigned her seat last month after a House Ethics Committee investigation determined she misused about $5 million in federal FEMA funds. Alcee Hastings represented the area for 28 years before his death in 2021.

Under the new Republican map, District 20 wasn’t spared. Its voting-age Black population is now 45%—making it now technically a Black-plurality district.

Congresswoman says her tenure makes her best suited to deliver

Wasserman Schultz did not immediately respond for a request to comment on the joint letter issued Tuesday. However, she did defend her choice to run in District 20 to CBS News Miami on May 22, saying that she would be able to deliver for residents better than a newcomer if Democrats win back the U.S. House as the most senior Democrat in the Florida delegation.

“I’m a senior member of the House Appropriation Committee. I am the ranking member of a subcommittee in appropriations, making me at the leadership table,” she said.

“The people in District 20 know me and I know them,” Wasserman Schultz continued. “People know I show up for them.”

Wasserman Schultz called the Legislature's redistricting illegal. On Tuesday, a Leon County judge denied a preliminary injunction sought by voting rights groups to block the newly enacted map.

The Democratic primary is set for Aug. 18 and currently has eight candidates, including Cherfilus-McCormick attempting a political comeback and Miami hip-hop pioneer Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell.

The GOP has also piled on criticism of the congresswoman, saying she is “running scared” rather than face re-election in the newly defined District 25, which now has an evenly divided number of registered Democrats and Republicans. 

Maureen O’Toole, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement Wasserman Schultz “is abandoning her home district because she knows she was headed for defeat in a seat President Trump won by double digits."

Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, the former National Security Council member running for U.S. Senate in Florida, said the Democratic infighting is playing right into Republicans' hands and was part of the design of the new map.

“It’s exactly what they (Republicans) are looking for,” he said. “When a party has no ideas that connect with the electorate, they try to steal an election.”

Elijah Manley, a Democrat also running District 20, said the acrimony "sends a message that the Democrats don't have all their marbles together and I think the fault is on Debbie Wasserman Schultz ."

"Debbie is only concerned about her own career because she had multiple options," said Manley, adding that the veteran congresswoman could have run in District 25 or even District 22 where two progressive underdogs are looking to represent the Democrats.