Luther Campbell teased a bid for Congress. He didn’t follow through

It looked for a while like Luther Campbell, the 2 Live Crew frontman and activist, was going to make a run for Congress. The opportunity to do so just passed.

A Friday noon deadline for candidates to qualify to run for federal office came and went without Campbell, who for the past month floated a potential primary challenge to Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who represents Florida’s 20th congressional district, covering parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties. His decision leaves Cherfilus-McCormick unopposed, effectively guaranteeing her a second full-term in Washington.

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For weeks leading up to the deadline, Campbell repeatedly vented his frustrations with what he saw as a Democratic Party that had lost its fight against an increasingly aggressive contingent of Republicans, like U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Campbell promised that, if he launched a bid for Congress, he would run a no-holds-barred campaign that would embrace his reputation as a scrappy, unfiltered rapper and First Amendment activist.

He even teased the possibility of having a documentary film crew follow his would-be campaign, arguing that doing so would inspire a new generation of young people to jump into politics.

“For them to see that would be amazing,” Campbell told the Miami Herald earlier this month. “You’ll have more young people get involved in politics and you’ll have more of our people actually understanding how politics actually work.”

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Up until Thursday, Campbell was still teasing the possibility of a congressional run. In a post on the social media website X, he wrote that he would reveal his decision at 11 a.m. on Friday. That announcement never came.

Campbell did not return a phone call or text message from the Herald seeking comment on Friday afternoon.

Set up a PAC, registered with the FEC

Campbell’s interest in challenging Cherfilus-McCormick for her seat wasn’t just talk. In January, he established a political action committee called “Don’t Stop Get It Get It” to support a potential campaign. He also met with political consultants about the possibility of running.

Another sign that he was seriously moving toward a congressional bid came on Tuesday, when Campbell registered his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. Still, he failed to qualify with the Florida Division of Elections by Friday’s deadline, effectively taking him out of contention.

Campbell has run for public office before. He launched a bid for Miami-Dade County mayor in 2011, eventually finishing in fourth place with 11% of the vote, despite barely campaigning.

With the possibility of a primary challenge from Campbell now a thing of the past, Cherfilus-McCormick is set to coast to another term.

No Republican qualified to run in the district, though even if one did, winning would be an uphill battle. It’s one of only two majority-Black districts in the state – and one of the most Democratic. The seat was held by the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings for decades until his death in 2021.

Cherfilus-McCormick, a relative newcomer who ran against Hastings twice before, won a special election for his seat in 2022 by just five votes. She went on to win reelection later that year by nearly 45 percentage points. Those two elections are the subject of a U.S. House Ethics Committee investigation into whether Cherflius-McCormick violated campaign finance laws and other regulations.

In a statement on Friday, Cherfilus-McCormick said that she was “blessed” to win reelection without opposition, but noted that “there is still a lot of work to be done” before the November elections.

“We still have down-ballot candidates and races,” she said. “Most importantly, we have to get President Biden and Vice President Harris across the finish line. And together, we can and will. “