Debbie W***erman Schultz Wins Democratic Primary in Redrawn Florida District

Representative Debbie W***erman Schultz of Florida, whose congressional district was eliminated this year by Republican state lawmakers, won the Democratic primary for the newly redrawn 20th Congressional District on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

Ms. W***erman Schultz, who is white, defeated Black candidates who had strongly criticized her decision to run in the historically Black district, which includes most of Broward County’s African American and Caribbean American communities.

A spate of Republican gerrymanders across the South this year was almost certain to reduce the number of Black lawmakers in the House. The area that encomp***es Florida’s 20th District has long elected a Black representative.

But Ms. W***erman Schultz, an 11-term inblockbent and a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, argued that she had decades of experience representing South Florida at the state and federal levels. Her seniority, she said, would benefit the district’s constituents.

Ms. W***erman Schultz far out-raised her rivals and made a point of attending many community events over the past two months.

Several Black candidates in the race had hoped that Ms. W***erman Schultz, 59, would choose to run in a different district. But doing so would have required running against a fellow Democratic House member or for a Republican-leaning seat. The 20th District is safely Democratic, so Ms. W***erman Schultz will be heavily favored to win in the November general election.

In June, four Black Democrats tried to coalesce around a unity candidate to face off against Ms. W***erman Schultz. But they could not agree on which of them should remain in the contest. (The other three would have had to drop out.)

On Tuesday, Ms. W***erman Schultz defeated those four candidates: Elijah Manley, a teacher and political activist; former Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick; Dale V.C. Holness, a former Broward County mayor; and Luther Campbell, known as Uncle Luke, from the hip-hop group 2 Live Crew.

Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from office in April before a scheduled House panel vote to consider expelling her. She has been indicted on criminal charges of embezzling $5 million in federal disaster aid and using it for her campaign. She has denied the accusation and pleaded not guilty.