Florida Black House Representation Risks Falling to 2 as Redistricting Reshapes District 20
Updated
Updated · WLRN · Aug 14
Florida Black House Representation Risks Falling to 2 as Redistricting Reshapes District 20
2 articles · Updated · WLRN · Aug 14
Summary
Two Black members of Congress could be all Florida has left after next Tuesday’s primary, down from a floor of three Black representatives the state has maintained since 1993.
District 20 is the flashpoint: lawmakers redrew it mid-decade into a non-Black-majority seat, while a separate DeSantis-backed 2022 map had already erased a longtime Black-majority district in North Florida.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s entry into the Democratic primary intensified the threat because she brings statewide name recognition into a seat held by Black Democrats since 1992; all of her main rivals are Black.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation after a federal fraud indictment further scrambled the race, leaving the seat open even as she seeks to return and denies wrongdoing.
The fight now reaches beyond one primary: voting-rights advocates are suing over the new maps, arguing they illegally dilute Black voting power as states test rollbacks of minority-access districts after a Supreme Court ruling.