Florida Republicans engineer a Democratic showdown between Jews and Blacks

Florida Republicans know what they’re doing. They set the stage for not only a racial conflict but also a Black/Jewish showdown for Democrats in south Florida.

Let’s hope that Black and white voters, and specifically Florida Jews, do not take the bait.

After nearly 22 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a congressperson without a district. Republican state lawmakers eliminated her seat by redrawing the state’s congressional map to slash the number of Democratic-leaning seats from eight to four. Wasserman Schultz’s district is in Broward County, as is that of Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who is also a congressperson without a district.

From the outset, we can wonder if the treatment of Democrats in Broward County makes a case for antisemitism. Both Moskowitz and Wasserman Schultz are Jewish.

That is not so coincidental. The vast majority of Florida Jews live in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties and more Jews vote Democratic, so it is more likely for Jews to hold public office in south Florida. Of course, Republican lawmakers can claim that was not a consideration, or maybe they did not know about the heavy Jewish population in what is thought of in political terms as north Florida.

Even if that is a thin case, it is especially worrying that Wasserman Schultz is running for re-election in the 20^th district, which is historically Black and has been represented by a Black congressperson for decades. The district is home to most of Broward County’s African American and Caribbean American communities. Black residents make up a plurality of the district’s population.

Wasserman Schultz’s race is already an issue. Could conditions spiral out of control because she is Jewish?

The New York Times reported Monday that four Black candidates seeking the Democratic nomination complained about her candidacy in a statement to Wasserman Schultz, who can win because of a split vote and a larger campaign fund.

“This district was established to remedy decades of racial exclusion and to ensure that Black communities have the opportunity to elect leaders who truly reflect their experiences and needs,” they wrote.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is African American, has yet to endorse Wasserman Schultz, who is a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Though he normally endorses incumbents, he said he had not “made a decision.” “Everybody has a right to run where they see fit,” he said while praising her “strong record of accomplishment.” He noted that the country was contending with “an unprecedented Jim Crow-like assault on Black political representation.”

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April prodded Southern states to redraw maps to slash the number of Black-majority congressional seats. The decision weakened a clause of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, finding that Louisiana lawmakers had unconstitutionally depended upon race when they created a majority-Black district, according to the Times.

As the Black candidates’ letter suggests, white and Black candidates are already struggling along racial lines. Wasserman Schultz, of Weston, said “I’m just as angry” as other Democrats. “(Gov.) DeSantis and (President) Trump have intentionally dismantled Broward County’s power.”

The 20^th district seat has been vacant since April when then-Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned as a House panel planned to consider expelling her. She had been indicted on criminal charges of embezzling $5 million in federal disaster aid and spending it on her campaign. She has pleaded not guilty, according to the Times article. She is now one of Wasserman Schultz’s four Black rivals.

One majority-Black district, the 24^th in Miami-Dade, will remain in the entire state. The Democratic incumbent, Rep. Frederica Wilson, is retiring.

What goes unmentioned is the ugly potential to mudsling Wasserman Schultz for her ethnicity and religion. Some of the more crass Democrats might complain that she will ensure military aid for Israel that should be spent on the needs of poor people in Broward County. They might ask, why should we be represented by a congressperson who supports an apartheid, genocidal state?

Attacks on Wasserman Schultz over Israel could happen, no matter how meritless the criticisms. Gov. Ron DeSantis and his fellow Republicans are probably smirking over the possibility. They may make these decisions 400 miles to the north, in the state capital of Tallahassee, but they know the political terrain in south Florida and how to exploit it. Any doubt that picking on Wasserman Schultz was an accident?

We cannot blame Democrats of color for seeking to retain representation in Congress. At the same time, Wasserman Schultz is a respected public servant who brings 22 years of seniority to the job. She supports the same political agenda as her rivals. She does not live in the district, but candidates for Congress can run in any district in their home state.

The Republican drive to reduce minority representation is despicable, but it is a reality that Americans must live with for the time being. Maybe we can change that in the future.

Hopefully, all the parties will maintain their dignity during the present crisis. They can show Republicans in Tallahassee that perhaps they do not know what they’re doing.

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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.