Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is projected to win her party’s primary on Tuesday after a controversial move into Florida’s newly drawn 20th Congressional District, which is plurality Black.

Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run for reelection in the new district led to an outcry from local Black leaders in Broward County and some Congressional Black Caucus members. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), who is Black, did not endorse Wasserman Schultz in the primary.

Local Black political leaders saw the white, 11-term congresswoman’s move as a threat to Black political representation already imperiled by the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act.

Despite the controversy, Wasserman Schultz was able to prevail over a divided field of four challengers, all of whom are Black. They included organizer Ethan Manley, former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 2 Live Crew rapper Luther “Luke” Campbell and real estate broker Dale Holness.

The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman campaigned on her “seniority” and “clout” in Congress. She also argued that she was capable of representing any community, noting that the district she currently represents is plurality Latino.

The new district centered on Broward County is the result of mid-decade redistricting initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, in January 2026 as part of a national effort by Republicans to reduce the number of congressional seats held by Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. The state legislature, firmly under the control of Republicans, passed new election maps in April, eliminating four seats with majorities of Democratic voters.

Wasserman Schultz’s seat in the 25th District was among those eliminated by Republicans, shifting the baseline partisan balance from favoring Democrats by 5 points to favoring Republicans by 9. This led her to jump to the neighboring 20th District.

The congresswoman’s primary win in this solidly Democratic seat means that she will become the only white member of Congress representing a plurality or majority Black district in the House in 2027. Currently, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) is the only white congressman representing a majority-Black district, but his Memphis district was eliminated by Tennessee Republicans who targeted it after the Supreme Court’s decision.

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