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There are elections in which an editorial board confronts two compelling candidates and must make a difficult choice. Florida's 20th Congressional District presents a different problem.
The County declines to make an endorsement in this race.
Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the FL-20 Democratic primary fairly. She received 45.3% of the vote in a split candidate field, defeating former Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, Elijah Manley, former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and rapper Luther Campbell. Nearly 55% of Democratic primary voters did not choose her.
That result ended a very ugly primary. It did not resolve the questions that produced it.
Wasserman Schultz chose to run in the 20th District following Republican redistricting that transformed the political terrain of her previous district. In doing so, she entered a historically Black congressional district where four Black Democrats were already competing for the nomination. Critics called the move carpetbagging. The description was harsh, but the underlying criticism was legitimate.
The 20th District carries a history larger than any individual politician. In 1992, a court ordered redistricting that, thanks to the Voting Rights Act, created an opportunities for Black Floridians to elect a candidate of their choice to Congress. That map sent Alcee Hastings to Washington as one of Florida's first Black members of Congress since Reconstruction. A 116 year gap. Since its creation, the district had been represented by Black members of Congress.
That history does not mean this congressional seat belongs to a particular race. It does mean the loss of Black representation in a district created from a struggle against the racial apartheid and exclusion of Black voters for centuries deserves to be treated with considerably more seriousness than ordinary political geography.
Wasserman Schultz knew these concerns existed. Elected black officials, Democrats, and local residents had publicly appealed to her not to contest this district. Ten out of 15 elected DNC members from Florida criticized her decision, and even the leader of the Democratic Caucus in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, refused to support her due to the broader attack on black representation.
She ran anyway. She won.
Winning created a new obligation for Wasserman Schultz: to unite the district she had divided in order to represent it.
So far, we are not persuaded that she has done enough to meet that obligation.
It was not incumbent upon the voters who were against Wasserman Schultz's candidacy to just get over the primary process. It was incumbent upon the winner to listen, recognize why the race was so hard-fought, and show that there is going to be a place for those who are worried about losing political power in her coalition.
Experience and seniority are genuine strengths. But, they are not substitutes for trust.
Nor, however, can The County recommend Republican nominee Brent Andersen as an alternative.
District 20 remains a very Democratic district. This is not a district in which partisan differences are going to matter much in deciding the outcome; the seat is considered to be a safe Democrat seat. Therefore, a Republican candidate running for the position here will have a very difficult task proving their ability to operate independently, seriously, and with an agenda that responds to this district, instead of merely standing against its dominant party.
Declining to endorse is not something we intend to use as an escape from difficult decisions. An endorsement should mean something. It should represent an affirmative judgment that a candidate has earned our recommendation, not merely that one candidate is preferable to another.
We cannot make that affirmative judgment in Florida's 20th District this year.
Wasserman Schultz will enter November as the overwhelming favorite. If elected, she will inherit something more difficult than the regular politics we see in each election. She will inherit the responsibility of representing communities that spent months debating whether her candidacy itself diminished their political voice.
She should take that responsibility seriously.
For U.S. House of Representatives, Florida's 20th Congressional District, The County makes NO ENDORSEMENT.
Editor's Note: Editorial Board member and The County publisher Elijah Manley recused himself from all deliberations and decisions regarding this endorsement. Manley was a candidate in the 2026 Democratic primary for Florida's 20th Congressional District and challenged Debbie Wasserman Schultz for the nomination.
