Democrat Who Resigned From Congress Insists She’s ‘Strongest Candidate in the Race’ Despite Legal Bills Wiping Out Her Funds

Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

Former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) is unapologetically confident about her chances for re-election, despite resigning amid scandal less than a month ago, having a nearly depleted campaign account, and a Democratic heavyweight considering jumping into the district.

Last month, the House Ethics Committee found that Cherfilus-McCormick was guilty of 25 out of 27 counts of embezzling funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that were intended for Covid-19 vaccination programs. She had been accused of improperly funneling $5 million through a health care company she and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, ran, using the money for her personal use and to bankroll her congressional campaign.

The siblings were indicted by the Department of Justice in November for their scheme. Cherfilus-McCormick was charged with fifteen charges including theft, money laundering, illegal campaign contributions, and filing a false tax return. She faces up to 53 years in prison, according to a DOJ press release.

Cherfilus-McCormick has denied wrongdoing, pleading not guilty to the federal charges against her and maintaining that the House Ethics Committee’s hearing was “not a fair process” and a “witch hunt.” Nonetheless, she announced in April that she was resigning from Congress, just hours before the House had scheduled an expulsion vote that was widely expected to succeed.

Four days before her resignation, Cherfilus-McCormick filed her re-election paperwork with the Florida Division of Elections, and was defiantly optimistic about her chances when interviewed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel at a gathering of Broward County Democratic clubs on Monday.

Florida’s 20th congressional district was reconfigured along with the rest of the state by a redistricting bill pushed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and passed by the GOP majority legislature during a special session in late April.

Longtime Florida Democratic power player Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), a former Democratic National Committee chair who spent years representing Broward County in the Florida House and then Senate, saw her 25th congressional district chopped up by the redistricting and has openly pondered switching to the 20th.

Wasserman Schultz told the Sun Sentinel she was definitely running for re-election — “There is no way that I would back down from this fight” — but was still weighing her options about which district she should choose.

“I really need to have a lot more of those conversations,” she said. “I’m not going to be careless or presumptuous regarding this important of a decision. I’m going to approach this decision with the respect and consideration that this community deserves.”

When asked about Cherfilus-McCormick, Wasserman Schultz demurred questions about whether she should have resigned, simply saying, “She’s resigned and that chapter is closed, and I’m focused on the future.”

Four other Democrats besides Cherfilus-McCormick are already running in the 20th congressional district: Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell (from the 1990s rap group 2 Live Crew), Mark Douglas, Maisha Williams, Dale Holness, and Elijah Manley.

The Florida Democratic Party already seemingly washed its hands of Cherfilus-McCormick, issuing a statement from Chair Nikki Fried the day of her resignation, noting that the congresswoman had just “resigned from the House of Representatives after being indicted on fraud charges involving the misuse of COVID-19 funds” and declaring that “corruption has no place in Congress.”

Still, Cherfilus-McCormick told the paper she was in, undeterred by the competition.

“The strongest candidate in the race is me,” she said. “I never said I wasn’t running.”

She claimed she has received “so much support” from people in the district because of her “strong record.”

“I got so many calls from the constituents and from the people saying we need you to continue to fight, especially right now when we see this redistricting map going on,” she said. “And so that’s why I’m here to continue that fight.”

“Everybody should run wherever they feel like they should run, where you can represent the people accurately and passionately,” she responded when asked about Wasserman Schultz possibly running in the district.

Cherfilus-McCormick also insisted her pending criminal case — her trial is scheduled for next year — would not be a problem for her campaign.

“I’ve never been distracted. I’ve never shied away from a fight. I’m still fighting, and my team has always said, we’re ready. We’re ready for this fight. We’re ready to fight and win,” she said, adding that she was running again “because the people need me.”

She emphasized her position that she had resigned because “it was very, very clear at that moment that we weren’t getting a fair process and when we weren’t getting a fair process, it just didn’t make any sense to go forward with it.” She also argued that it didn’t actually matter that she had quit because Congress was not going to get much done over the next few months because they were all in “more of a lame-duck period because everybody right now is running for office.”

Another major challenge for Cherfilus-McCormick: money, or in her case, a lack thereof.

Contributions completely dried up after she was indicted, the vast majority of her campaign funds have gone to pay legal expenses, and her campaign committee is deeply in debt.

Currently, the Federal Election Commission campaign finance records show that she has only $11,080.91 cash on hand, and her committee is $4,385,289.12 in debt, including six-figure legal bills that remain unpaid to several law firms. Her Democratic opponents are all stronger financially with more cash on hand, little to no debt (other than two candidates who made substantial personal loans to self-fund their campaigns), and expenditures on campaign operations and voter outreach, not legal fees.

If Wasserman Schultz jumps in this district, she’ll immediately swamp everyone in terms of fundraising because of her longstanding relationships with Florida Democratic donors and her national network as a former DNC chair, plus she currently has $2,507,480.19 cash on hand.

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