Former Miramar Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned from Congress in May 2026, just minutes before a vote was to be taken to boot her from her seat due to ethics violations, stated at a recent Democratic meeting on June 1, 2026, she is planning to run again for the seat she lost. “The strongest candidate in the race is me,” Cherfilus-McCormick said to reporters attending the meeting.
“I never said I wasn’t running,” she added. The attempted comeback announcement comes as the historically black seat, Florida’s 20th Congressional District, has become something of a racial battleground after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP helped redraw the state’s congressional map.
“There’s a fight across the South to make sure Black voices are not diluted and Black representation is preserved,” Cherfilus-McCormick said while speaking to WPLG-10 and reporters from other outlets. Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, is leaning into the race angle to make the case for why she should be making another bid for the seat, despite having already faced expulsion for 25 ethics violations.
According to the Miramar News, the former congresswoman is looking at a criminal trial in Miami in 2027. She was first indicted on accusations of stealing $5 million in FEMA money that was intended to go to COVID-19 vaccine contracts and for using some of the cash to finance her first successful bid for Congress in 2021.
The disgraced Democrat is entering a packed race that includes four other individuals running for her former seat. One of her challengers is a former Miami rapper and political activist, Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell. Another is former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness. For most Democrats in the district, the race is looking to be one that is focused on the issue of representation, redistricting, and who should be chosen to carry forward Florida’s most important Black-majority congressional districts.
While Cherfilus-McCormick resigned back in April as ethics investigations were still being conducted, she has continued to maintain her innocence, saying the allegations brought against her are still unproven. She has previously referred to the investigations as a “witch hunt.” She says that voters still want to see her represent them in Congress. Some are saying that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) might toss her hat into the ring for District 20.
The new congressional map dramatically altered District 22, which is what she currently represents. Wasserman Schultz also attended the meeting on June 1, 2026. As of this writing, she has not made any announcement about running for the seat. However, the possibility of her entering the race has sparked a heated debate among black leaders who think the seat should remain occupied by a black individual.
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Members of the Broward Democratic Black Caucus have been publicly urging Wasserman Schultz not to run for the District 20 seat due to its history and current demographics. However, when speaking with reporters about her future plans, Wasserman Schultz revealed that she has been consulting with community leaders and weighing her options.
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