Republican Congressional Candidate and U.S. Army Purple Heart Recipient Dr. Rod Joseph spoke with The Floridian about his views on the backlash received by Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DWS) during the Urban League of Broward County Forum following her reelection campaign announcement in Florida’s 20th Congressional District (FL CD 20).
“The [U.S.] Constitution is clear. Any candidate who qualifies can run, and the Constitution does not bar anyone from running. I don’t care [about] their skin color or the person’s ethnicity. As long as you have substance and you come in with a good vision, I don’t think people should focus on people’s color or race,” Joseph stated. “I think it was wrong; I didn’t buy into that thing. I let them debate because Democrats are Democrats. Let them eat each other. It’s better for me and the campaign strategically.”
Joseph, who ran as a Democrat in 2022 for FL CD 36, is now running as a Republican in the heavily Democratic stronghold after switching parties in 2024.
“I think it was unfair to Debbie, to be honest, because we live in a country that’s been preaching diversity. And then the moment somebody comes in to show diversity, we try to say, ‘this block is [a] black block.’ Imagine if the whole country started using the same concept.”
“We’d be living in the most divided country,” he commented.
DWS Campaign Backlash from Black Democratic Leaders
Following the state of Florida’s congressional redistricting ahead of the 2026 Midterm Elections, Rep. Wasserman Schultz made the controversial decision of pivoting from FL CD 25 to FL CD 20.
During the Forum, Democratic candidate Elijah Manley attempted to tear into alleged donations from special interest groups towards Schultz's campaign.
Manley accused DWS of receiving money from lobbyists and other stakeholders in the private prison space, including $20,000 from the "Corrections Corporation of America," or CoreCivic.
Other Black Democratic lawmakers have criticized DWS, including former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D), who claimed that Schultz’s decision is contributing “to the erasure” of the history of the Black community.
