By Jesse Scheckner
(Source Florida Politics)
It didn’t take Elijah Manley long to capitalize on what he sees as an unscrupulous misstep by the Congresswoman he’s running to unseat in Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
Just days after Florida Politics reported that U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is fundraising off of federal charges that she stole millions in COVID funds, Manley is also asking for campaign donations while citing the report.
“Yup, she tried to pull a fast one on you,” a fundraising email from Manley’s campaign said.
“The thing is, we can’t count on the establishment media to get this story in front of every voter. But we can count on each other.”
The email, which includes a big “DONATE” button, then provides a link to the Florida Politics report, asking readers to share it, adding, “Let’s make sure everyone in our district knows the truth.”
Asked for comment, Manley sent a text: “The #SCAMQueen is trying to take voters’ hard-earned money in the middle of an affordability crisis to pay for her criminal legal fees. Unfortunately for her, the voters in FL-20 are not naïve. They know a SCAM when they see one.”
A grand jury indicted Cherfilus-McCormick in November, accusing her of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to bankroll her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, has maintained she is innocent of wrongdoing, calling the charges “unjust” and “baseless” and a form of “retaliation” for her vote to release files connected to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Notably, none of the 426 other members of the U.S. House was indicted after voting “yes” on that release last month.
Hostilities between Cherfilus-McCormick and Manley, 26, have persisted for months. In September, the Congresswoman sued Manley for $1 million, accusing him of defamation for spreading “blatant lies” about her record and reputation. The suit cited a video Manley’s campaign published of him saying, among other things, that Cherfilus-McCormick “took $5.7 million from taxpayers” and a letter he wrote to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel pointing to an ongoing House Ethics Committee probe of her.
Manley Fundraising message
In the letter, Manley wrote that while he once “rooted for” Cherfilus-McCormick, he no longer does because “the Democrats’ collapse in our state has coincided with her election and the many ethical and legal scandals she brought to Congress.”
The two then got into a heated exchange in October at a Broward Young Democrats meeting that ended with Cherfilus-McCormick slinging the classic insult at Manley: “Your mama.”
The ongoing lawsuit isn’t the first time the Congresswoman has sued a foe for keeping word of the accusations she faces alive. In July 2022, she sued another one of her Primary foes this year, 68-year-old Dale Holness, for $1 million over campaign texts that told voters she embezzled $6 million from taxpayers to “buy a seat in Congress.” That suit has been listed as “inactive” since mid-2023.
Two Republicans, Sendra Dorce and Joseph Rodenay, are also running this cycle.
CD 20 spans a majority-Black area in and around western and central Broward County, with a small portion of southeast Palm Beach County. It includes all or part of Fort Lauderdale, Lake Park, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Riviera Beach, Sunrise and Tamarac.
It’s Florida’s most Democratic-leaning congressional district, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+22.
Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian American woman from Florida elected to Congress, has represented Florida’s 20th Congressional District since January 2022. She won her seat in a Special Election following the death of Alcee Hastings. Last year, she was re-elected unopposed.
The 2026 Primary is Aug. 18, followed by the General Election on Nov. 3.