Wasserman Schultz deserves reelection; opponent is clueless
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was hard at work in Washington the other day, giving what-for to Louis DeJoy, the postmaster general who’s making your prescriptions and Social Security checks come late. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee objected that she had used up her time. Nevertheless, she persisted. She forced DeJoy to admit he would not let postal managers in Congressional District 23 reactivate the sorting machines they tell her they need.
All politics is local, Tip O’Neill famously said, but in those hours, Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats on the committee were also representing the entire nation. It’s from individual districts that members of Congress hear what is going wrong and what they need to do to fix it.
There’s a lot that needs fixing now, in addition to the Postal Service, and there’s no one better suited to do that than Wasserman Schultz, whom we recommend with enthusiasm to the voters of District 23 for an eighth term in the House of Representatives.
Of note: She is bidding for the powerful chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, if Democrats retain control of the House. It would be impossible to overstate the importance to Florida to have her there.
What she told us when we asked why she is running speaks volumes about why
Broward should reelect her:
“From fighting climate change to expanding health care access, preventing gun violence to reducing income inequality, racial injustice and protecting our democracy, we have a lot of work to do in this next Congress — and I intend to advance these important goals with my voice and my vote.”
Having easily overcome a challenge from the left in this month’s Democratic primary, Wasserman Schultz is opposed now from the right by a Republican who personifies some of the worst aspects of that party.
Once again, most Republican voters stayed home in the primary, and the 21 percent who showed up split narrowly against the relatively moderate Michael Kroske in favor of the immoderate Carla Spalding, an unqualified demagogue who seems to be channeling President Trump.
Before running for Congress, Wasserman Schultz, who’s now 53, spent 12 years in Tallahassee listening, learning and becoming a very effective legislator. Her involvement with civic organizations in Broward County is broad and long-standing. Spalding, 52, is a registered nurse who immigrated from the Caribbean as a child. She has never served in a lesser office. Last July, she filed to run for Broward County supervisor of election, but dropped out of the race four months later.
This is her third undistinguished campaign for Congress. Four years ago, backed by right-wing commentator Roger Stone and his InfoWars show, she ran unsuccessfully in Palm Beach County, winning 3 percent of the vote. Two years ago, she concluded that she might have a better chance in Broward, but came in third in the three-person Republican primary.
On her candidate questionnaire, she did not identify any group memberships. Neither did she say where she works.
Asked to list the top three issues facing our nation, this was her first: “Our country is in a major crisis and a fork, whereby we must proceed down a path of prayerful peace and unity, not chaos, violence and anarchy.”
Wasserman Schultz is knowledgeable on every national issue. Spalding is grossly unprepared to define, much less discuss what the important ones are, and her campaign has veered into the swamps. Without evidence, she accused Wasserman Schultz of corruption and alleged, baselessly, that “mail in ballots in Broward County have been scientifically proven to be fraudulent.”
Spalding, who is Black, denigrated Kroske at one Republican meeting as “an old white man” for whom Black Democrats presumably would not vote. That was racist and sexist — an insult to the people of District 23.
Like Trump, Spalding opposes the Affordable Care Act and vaguely promises “something better for EVERYONE.”
Wasserman Schultz helped enact the Affordable Care Act and is committed to expanding access. She also regards gun control, which Spalding opposes, as essential to public health.
Wasserman Schultz has the right position on the issues that matter to most voters in District 23, which serves south Broward and parts of eastern MiamiDade.
Spalding is either clueless or wrong on what a representative from this district should know and stand for.
You don’t have to take our word for it. You can read their Sun Sentinel questionnaires online at sunsentinel.com/endorsements.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.