The desperate, failed attempt to keep one Florida district Black

Efforts to consolidate the Black vote here were frustrated, handing the Democratic nomination to a white party insiderA major plot line of the hyper-partisan, mid-decade redistricting arms races – launched at the urging of Donald Trump – has been the elimination of traditionally Black congressional seats in the south. In the midst of that battle, a subplot emerged: a challenge to one of those Black seats from inside the Democratic caucus itself as the veteran congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose own district was splintered, chose to seek re-election in Florida’s 20th congressional district, which had been represented for decades by a Black legislator.Her candidacy and primary win raise prickly questions about the value of lived experience as a prerequisite for effective representa