Congressional candidate Elijah Manley is hammering U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for choosing to run in a plurality Black seat.

Under Florida’s new congressional map, the Weston Democrat announced she would run in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, where Manley has been campaigning since last year.

“I’m not surprised that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is carpetbagging to FL-20, a black opportunity district, abandoning her own district and constituents,” Manley said.

“She is no different than the Republicans that are eviscerating black representation across the South. She is everything that’s wrong with the broken unpopular Democratic establishment. This ain’t Weston. I look forward to retiring her from public office permanently.”

Since the new map was approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Manley said he will continue to run in CD 20. DeSantis’ Office redrew a “race-neutral” map that dismantled a version of the district effectively in place since the 1990s that had been a majority Black seat.

But much of the populated area of the outgoing CD 20 remains in the new version. And while no longer majority Black, the district 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.

Manley first jumped into the race to challenge U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who was under House Ethics Committee investigation related to accusations she siphoned millions in federal relief dollars to her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned earlier this year before an expected Committee vote recommending her expulsion, but remains under federal criminal indictment and faces a trial next year.

But she is also still running for re-election to the seat, meaning Manley now faces two people who have won repeated elections for Congress in the region.

Manley also faces former 2 Live Crew front man Luke Campbell, former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness, Dr. Rudolph Moise and Maisha Williams, daughter of late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, in a Democratic Primary.

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