Somewhere, Ron DeSantis has got to be sitting back, booted feet propped on his desk, laughing and smoking a cigar at what has been playing out in Florida's 20th Congressional District.
As RedState readers will recall, at the governor's urging, the Sunshine State redrew its congressional map in late April just as the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais was being handed down. Republicans hold 20 of Florida's 28 congressional seats. The new map, if it survives the current court challenges, could potentially net them another four seats in the upcoming midterm elections.
One of the districts impacted was District 25, which longtime Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz currently represents. That district will be far more GOP-friendly under the new map, so Wasserman Schultz had a decision to make. On Friday, she announced it, and it has infuriated black Democrats in the state.
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Speculation had been swirling for weeks that Wasserman Schultz would switch districts and run for the open seat in District 20, the one formerly held by disgraced now-former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D). But that district is one of those majority minority ones, and several black Democrats who already declared their intentions to run for it openly warned the former Democrat National Committee Chairwoman off of it.
She didn't listen, and on Friday, she made it official that she intends to run in District 20 - complete with a framed poster of former President Barack Obama in the background, of course:
Today, I’m announcing my candidacy for Florida’s 20th congressional district.
— Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) May 22, 2026
I’ll continue to use my seniority in Washington to make Broward a safer, less expensive place to live, raise a family, and retire. We cannot let Trump and DeSantis take away Broward County’s power. pic.twitter.com/q2BLHlX8Xx
The announcement did not go over well with some of the candidates who were already in the race, including self-described "organizer" and woketivist Elijah Manley, who point-blank accused her of wanting to steal a seat that he felt should remain in the hands of a black Democrat. He wrote the following statement on X:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is carpetbagging to FL-20, a black opportunity district instead of running in her own. DWS is everything that’s wrong with the Democratic establishment. From insider trading to payday lenders. I look forward to retiring her from public office permanently.
Later, he broke out the Jim Crow references in a true chickens come home to roost moment for Wasserman Schultz and the race-obsessed Democrat Party:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is no different than those Jim Crow Republicans across the south that are wiping out African-American opportunity districts.
— Elijah Manley (@iElijahManley) May 22, 2026
But she Definitely Won’t Succeed.
The Florida Black Legislative Caucus was also not amused:
Florida legislative black caucus joins the criticism of Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Her "decision to pursue reelection in this historically Black district, despite explicit requests from the Black community to seek candidacy in a neighboring district, is disheartening." https://t.co/uLOBGTiJMs pic.twitter.com/EHDcDX0w19
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) May 22, 2026
Wasserman Schultz's current district is also majority minority, but with more Hispanic voters than black voters. The new CD-20's majority minority, once it goes into effect, will consist of more black voters than Hispanic voters:
But while no longer a majority Black seat, CD 20 under the new cartography remains a majority minority seat. About 42% of the voting age population is Black, more than 23% is Hispanic and almost 4% is Asian, while 30% of voting age residents are White.
The icing on top of all of this is that Cherfilus-McCormick is running again, too, for the CD-20 seat. Here's what she had to say two weeks ago when asked about the possibility of Wasserman Schultz running in CD-20, and if she'd support her:
A potential Wasserman Schultz bid in District 20 could end years of Black congressional representation in the district, an idea Cherfilus-McCormick said she opposes.
“Absolutely not,” Cherfilus-McCormick said when asked whether she would support Wasserman Schultz running in the district. “This is not the moment for forum shopping. This is not the moment to say this is easier, this is not. What matters in this moment is to make sure all the strides we have made to make sure Black representation is actually present matters."
In a sane world, people would reject arguments that certain districts should be reserved for any person based on race, sex, religion, etc. But Democrats built this insanity, and now they are tearing themselves apart over it, bless their hearts.
You love to see it. You truly do.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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