Only white candidate in area that elected Black Democrats to Congress since 1992
Greeting voters ahead of Tuesday’s Florida primaries in red-white-and-blue sneakers, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been telling them she is “running for reelection to Congress.” She is seeking her 12th term, but running in a district different from the one she previously represented.
Florida Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map earlier this year. The change pushed Wasserman Schultz, a former national party chair, to cross district lines from her Fort Lauderdale exurb into an area of Broward County that has helped send Black Democrats to Congress since 1992.
She is the only white candidate in that area’s primary.
The map redraw followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Voting Rights Act provisions undergirding minority voting strength and effectively cleared former Confederate states, including Florida, to reshape House districts.