A major plot line of the hyper-partisan, mid-decade redistricting arms races – launched at the urging of Donald Trump – has been the elimination of traditionally Black congressional seats in the south.
asserted
line → launch → south
In the midst of that battle, a subplot emerged: a challenge to one of those Black seats from inside the Democratic caucus itself as the veteran congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose own district was splintered, chose to seek re-election in Florida’s 20th congressional district, which had been represented for decades by a Black legislator.
asserted
which → emerge → legislator
Her candidacy and primary win raise prickly questions about the value of lived experience as a prerequisite for effective representation of minority communities, about how Black Democratic candidates should deal with friendly fire from non-Black opponents, and about internal economic vulnerabilities of so-called Black seats which are in districts where candidates generally raise less money than others.
asserted
candidates → raise → others
On the evening of 1 June, the four Black candidates running to represent Florida’s 20th district in Congress ascended the crimson steps of the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Historic Sistrunk, the oldest Black neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale.
asserted
candidates → run → Lauderdale
Among them were Dale Holness, the Jamaican-born former mayor of Broward county; Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, former leader of the raunchy rap group 2 Live Crew; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the former congresswoman for the district who resigned over a money-laundering indictment and a House ethics investigation; and Elijah Manley, a 27-year-old substitute teacher and gay progressive who touted his hardscrabble upbringing, including a bout of homelessness – living in cars and couch-surfing.
asserted
who → bear → cars
They’d been convened by Broward state attorney Harold F Pryor, the first Black state attorney in the county, in hopes they would consolidate behind a single Black candidate in a desperate attempt to keep a Black representative in the seat, which had been the case since Alcee Hastings claimed it in 1992.
asserted
Hastings → convene → 1992
Hastings had been Florida’s first Black federal judge in 1979, but he was impeached and removed by Congress on bribery charges a decade later.
asserted
he → impeach → charges
So, his comeback congressional win in the district took some by surprise.
asserted
win → take → surprise
As a political consultant told the Miami Herald at the time: “Among a certain population of Black voters, Alcee Hastings was symbolic of someone who had overcome.
asserted
who → tell → someone
He fought the man and won.”
asserted
He → fight → man
But the candidates meeting that Monday in a research center conference room weren’t only fighting the man, they were battling a woman: 10 days earlier, veteran congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, who is white and Jewish and doesn’t live in the district, declared her intention to compete for the seat.
asserted
who → meet → seat
She was the epitome of the party establishment, having been in Congress for 21 years, served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee and possessing a massive war chest that none of the Black candidates could match, particularly not two months out from primary day.
uncertain
none → serve → day
Following the Louisiana v Callais decision allowing partisan gerrymandering, Florida’s legislature, at the urging of the governor, Ron DeSantis, redrew the state’s congressional line, splintering Wasserman Schultz’s district, once a Democratic stronghold that had been 42% Hispanic, so she decided to run in the 20th district, which is 42% Black.
asserted
which → follow → district
The Black candidates’ meeting, which served as something of an introduction of the consolidation idea, ended after about two hours with no resolution, so a second meeting was set for a week later, this one at noon at a building owned by the local chapter of Omega Psi Phi, a historic African American fraternity.
asserted
one → serve → Phi
Cherfilus-McCormick told the Guardian that she had entered the meetings with apprehension, believing that she and Holness were the only “real candidates” in the race, and her antipathy for Manley only grew, as she described his behavior as “deceitful, deceptive”, claiming he made up stories and leaked information.
asserted
he → tell → information
Multiple ideas were tossed around, such as having the candidates run for other offices: a seat the Florida state legislature, a different congressional district or even governor.
asserted
candidates → toss → offices
The meetings had been generally cordial, but as the candidates failed to reach consensus and the meeting dragged on for more than four hours, tempers flared, and voices were raised.
asserted
voices → fail → hours
Eventually, Holness, Manley and Campbell agreed to the general parameters of a consolidation plan, but Cherfilus-McCormick balked, believing that Manley and Campbell intended to run for the district seat anyway and were taking steps to do so.
asserted
Manley → agree → steps
“No, I’m not gonna sit here and lie to you guys, you guys are lying.
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guys → go → guys
I know you’re lying.
asserted
you → know → ?
Elijah already sent in his paperwork,” she recalled telling the group.
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she → send → group
“I’m running regardless.
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I → run → ?
This is my seat, and I’m running for my seat.”
asserted
I → run → seat
One of the steps a candidate must take under Florida law to qualify for federal office is to submit an oath swearing that they are qualified and will follow the US constitution.
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they → take → constitution
According to Manley’s candidate form filed with the Florida department of state, he took the oath and signed it three days before the second meeting, and it was marked received by the state just 30 minutes before that meeting began.
uncertain
meeting → accord → state
The other candidates submitted their oaths in the days that followed.
asserted
that → submit → days
Holness said that in the meetings the consensus was “that we would not attack each other throughout the campaign”, but he added: “In the end, Elijah did.”
asserted
Elijah → say → end
Ultimately pride, suspicion and distrust were hurdles too high to clear.
asserted
pride → clear → ?
When local Democrats caught wind of Wasserman Schultz’s intention to seek re-election in the 20th district, some tried to wave her off, seeking to keep in Black hands a seat they had come to see as inviolable political inheritance.
asserted
they → catch → inheritance
The Broward county Black Democratic caucus asked her not to run in the 20th district.
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caucus → ask → district
Holness says that almost three weeks before Wasserman Schultz finalized her decision to run, he had, after a West Broward Democratic Club meeting where she spoke, personally “handed her a folder with data” which he said demonstrated that “she could win where she lives, in district 22”.
uncertain
she → say → district
Manley said he spoke to Wasserman Schultz in a parking lot after an event in Kings Point, telling her that he hoped she would not run in the historically Black district.
asserted
she → say → district
According to him, she said: “I have a lot of options, and we’ll talk more about it.
uncertain
we → accord → it
You know how to reach me.”
asserted
You → know → me
Holness said that about a week before she announced, he tried to talk to her about the issue at another Democratic club meeting but she “pretty much blew me off” and said, “Look, I’m running.
asserted
I → say → me
It’s not personal.”
asserted
It → ’ → ?
A Wasserman Schultz spokesperson disputed Holness’s and Manley’s accounts, writing in a statement to the Guardian: “These conversations either never took place or did not occur as described.”
asserted
conversations → dispute → place
On 22 May, Wasserman Schultz announced her run for the the 20th district seat, saying in a video posted online that she was doing so simply “because we cannot let Trump destroy Broward county’s power”, and touting her “seniority and clout”.
uncertain
Trump → announce → seniority
Some quickly accused her of carpetbagging, of using her money and clout to bigfoot her way into the race.
asserted
Some → accuse → race
Ten of the 15 elected members of the Florida DNC released a statement condemning Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run in in the 20th district, saying: “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.”
asserted
party → elect → seat
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
