MIAMI — Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Friday she’ll be running in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, a safe blue seat that was historically drawn to ensure Black voters could elect a candidate of their choice.

“We cannot let Trump destroy Broward County’s power,” she said in a campaign announcement video peppered with endorsements from local leaders in Plantation, Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs.

“I’ll use all my seniority and clout in Washington to continue to make our lives more affordable,” she said.

Her decision puts her in a heated Democratic primary against candidates who have accused her of helping Gov. Ron DeSantis to weaken Black voters’ political power.

The 20th District was one of three Florida districts drawn by a federal court in 1992 under the Voting Rights Act as a remedy to racial discrimination, and led to the state’s first Black members of Congress since Reconstruction: Corrine Brown in Jacksonville, Alcee Hastings in Broward County and Carrie Meek in Miami-Dade County.

Gov. Ron DeSantis targeted the 20th District when his office redrew Florida’s congressional maps reversing previous interpretations of the federal Voting Rights Act and bolstering Republicans' chances of keeping the House in the midterms.

The changes moved majority-Black neighborhoods previously in the 20th District into surrounding white majority districts and weakened their collective voting power.

“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,” the Florida Legislative Black Caucus wrote in a statement Friday.

“Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s decision to pursue reelection in this historically Black district, despite explicit requests from the Black community to seek candidacy in a neighboring district, is disheartening,” the caucus wrote.

Florida’s new voting map split Wasserman Schultz’s former district five ways, leaving her with complicated options on where to run. Only a small portion of her former district is in the new 20th District.

She defended her decision to run there in an interview with the Miami Herald on Friday, saying that she has represented 9 of the 14 cities in the district in the past, and had more than 100 conversations about the decision in recent weeks.

People in Broward County “know the kind of fighter I am,” she said. “They know that I am a senior member of Congress, a senior appropriator, a member of Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership team, and they know that I can continue to deliver immediately.”

The other congressional districts she could have chosen to run in would have pitted her against colleagues like Rep. Jared Moskowitz in a Democratic primary, or placed her in a difficult general election in a district redrawn to favor Republicans.

Some of the Democratic leaders who urged her not to run in the 20th District said she was the only candidate with the funds to mount a serious bid in one of the newly Republican-favoring seats. She has more than $2.5 million in her campaign accounts, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Instead, she’s now running a district that is all but guaranteed to be held by a Democrat.

The National Republican Congressional Committee was quick to celebrate the announcement, with its Deputy Executive Director Jack Pandol noting on social media that her decision leaves Florida’s neighboring 22nd District, where Wasserman Schultz lives, “ripe for a GOP pickup.”

Backlash to the decision

Jason Poreda, who drew DeSantis’ new district maps, told the Florida Legislature that he started his process by breaking up the 20th District because it was drawn under the Voting Rights Act. He pointed to new court rulings, including a Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, as his justification to target the district.

The changes also ensured surrounding South Florida districts would favor Republicans, not Democrats in the November midterm elections. Voting rights groups are now suing over the new maps, but candidates have been preparing for the likelihood that the maps remain in effect through November.

Under the previous map, the population of the majority-minority 20th District was 53% Black, according to 2020 Census data compiled by Dave’s Redistricting, and the newly drawn 20th District is 45% Black. At least five Black Democrats are also vying for the seat.

One of those candidates, substitute teacher Elijah Manley, said Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run there too flies in the face of political leaders — both Black and white — who called for her not to run because it would unnecessarily divide the Democratic Party.

He said she is “carpetbagging to FL-20, a black opportunity district instead of running in her own” on social media Friday.

Manley told the Herald he believes Wasserman Schultz is hedging her bets on the seven Black candidates splitting votes, yielding an opportunity for her to be the Democratic nominee for the district.

“She’s not being an ally,” he said. “We need somebody that understands not just our lived experience, but we need a stronger Democrat.”

He wasn’t the only one criticizing the decision.

“Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run in District 20 sends the wrong message to Democrats all over Florida,” another Democrat in the race, Rudolph Moise, said in a statement. “This district was not created as a political fallback option.”

Former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick held the seat until she resigned last month amid a misconduct investigation. She is also running for reelection in the 20th District.

Wasserman Schultz said her decision to run in a safe Democratic seat increases the chances a senior member remains in Congress.

“Making sure that the most experienced member of Congress, who’s from Broward County, who’s represented Broward for my whole adult life is able to continue to fight for us, is critical,” she said. “We can’t start over with a beginner.”

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