MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis split up Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s South Florida voters into five different districts in his newly approved maps, leaving her with complicated options as Black Democratic leaders and candidates fight to keep her out of at least one of those districts.

Only two of the five districts her voters were split into favor a Democratic candidate — and both of those districts were created in 1992 under the Voting Rights Act to ensure Black voters could elect a candidate of their choice.

Rep. Frederica Wilson’s district, the 24th Congressional District, was drawn to pack an even larger Black majority into the district in the new maps. But DeSantis’ office intentionally broke up Black neighborhoods in District 20 as a justification for redrawing surrounding districts in a way that favors Republicans.

Black candidates and party leaders in that district say a well-funded, white Democrat jumping into the race would work to further weaken Black political power. Wasserman Schultz currently represents the 25th District.

“Why is she helping Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis take away Black representation?” Democratic candidate Elijah Manley said of the possibility that Wasserman Schultz could run in that district. “I don’t expect our Democratic allies to assist Republicans in wiping out Black seats.”

Florida’s new map came at the same time the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, prompting a push across Southern states to redraw congressional districts in ways that both favor Republicans and eliminate districts long-held by Black representatives.

“In this time when Black representation specifically — in the South specifically, where we are — is under such brutal assault right in front of all of our eyes, it is unconscionable that she could even be considering that,” former Miami-Dade County Democratic Party chair Robert Dempster said.

The candidates in that district are encouraging Wasserman Schultz to run in one of the Republican-favoring districts instead, where she has the funds to mount a serious challenge, but could end her congressional career if voters don’t swing significantly left from how they voted in 2024.

In a statement, Wasserman Schultz said, “I’m still having vital conversations and doing my due diligence on how to best continue to fight for this Broward County community where I’ve lived and devoted my life to standing up for. But I won’t be careless, presumptuous or rash in making any decision. I’m approaching this with the respect and consideration our community deserves.”

Limited options

Other South Florida Democrats had large swaths of their districts drawn into newly numbered districts, like Lois Frankel in Palm Beach County, making the decision about where to run more obvious.

Wasserman Schultz could opt to run against Republican mainstay Mario Díaz-Balart in the newly drawn 26th District, which now includes neighborhoods in Miramar she currently represents. But this race would be a steep uphill battle against her longtime colleague, and she has not indicated she’s considering this district.

Some of her constituents were also drawn into the Black-majority district held by Wilson, which has an even larger Black majority in the new maps and has a clear Democratic incumbent in Wilson.

The newly drawn coastal District 25 now includes many of the voters from Democrat Jared Moskowitz’ current 23rd District. His office did not respond to a request for comment, but he has signaled he plans to run in the 25th District.

Or there’s a district with no obvious Democratic challenger where Republican Michael Carbonara, who’s been running against her since last year, is now campaigning: Florida’s new 22nd District.

That district includes parts of Davie and Weston she currently represents, as well as Black-majority neighborhoods in Belle Glade and Pahokee drawn out of Cherfilus-McCormick’s former district in the new maps. The sprawling district then stretches across the state and loops in voters south of Naples and in Marco Island. About 55% of the voters in that new district voted for Donald Trump, according to data compiled by Dave’s Redistricting.

That’s the district at least some of the candidates trying to keep her out of the 20th District say she should take her massive campaign war chest to and compete to keep in Democratic control.

“She’s, in my mind, best positioned to win District 22 of all the Democrats running South Florida. She has the funds. She has the cachet,” Dale Holness, one of the Black Democratic candidates running in the 20th District, said Monday.

Candidates, community leaders speak out

Her last option is the 20th District, where only a small portion of her current district was drawn into.

Among the Black Democratic candidates competing against each other in that primary, there was broad consensus that Wasserman Schultz shouldn’t consider the district.

Rudolph Moise, a doctor also running for the seat, wrote in a statement to the Miami Herald that Wasserman Schultz running in the race “would be a choice to prioritize political survival over the principle of diverse representation that Democrats have long fought to protect.”

Holness said she is one of Democrats’ best hopes of keeping one of the Republican-favoring seats in November and should take that risk, and that she doesn’t have the lived experience to represent the large population of Black voters in the 20th District.

Luther Campbell, also known as Uncle Luke, told other Black candidates in a video on social media to stay in the race, even if Wasserman Schultz jumps in with her $2.5 million war chest.

Their comments also echoed a statement from the Broward County Black Democratic Caucus last week urging Wasserman Schultz to run in one of the newly Republican favoring districts instead.

Despite the backlash from the candidates in that race, she also a deep bench of relationships from her two decades in Congress to draw from. One Black Broward County Pastor, Eric Jones, said he’d support her no matter what district she runs in, after a years long relationship built on her showing up in key moments in his life.

“I’m only ever going to say good things about her, because that’s the only things I know in knowing her,” Jones told the Herald.

Others say running for a seat long-held by a Black representative, and first created as a remedy to racial discrimination, would damage her reputation in the community.

“We would not lose a Democrat, but we would lose minority representation in Congress,” Green said. “I think that would be a political expediency decision which would not help her, I believe, in the way that she would be viewed in the Black community.”

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