‘Uncle Luke’ doesn’t hold back
By KIMBERLY LEONARD 05/15/2026 07:00 AM EDT
Democrat Luther Campbell
Democrat Luther Campbell — rapper, activist and former football coach — is one of five candidates for Florida's 20th congressional district to replace former Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned in April but is running again. | Courtesy Campbell campaign
Good morning and happy Friday.
Democrat LUTHER CAMPBELL wants to add another title to his vast resume: congressman.
The 2 Live Crew rap icon, activist, philanthropist, former youth and high school football coach and music producer — who helped launch the careers of Pitbull and Trick Daddy — faces, so far, a five-person primary in one of Florida’s few safe blue seats. His campaign has been fueled by star power, including a fundraiser hosted by DJ KHALED and another planned with rapper and music exec RICK ROSS. He also has been reaching voters through his podcast, “The Uncle Luke Show,” using his stage name.
“I’m the Donald Trump of this shit,” he said. “I’m the businessman. I’m the outsider. I got no problem being that. I’ve got no problem being outside the building, because I’ve been outside the building all my life in all my businesses. I was not welcome in the music business or the entertainment business. I fought my way in it.”
Yet Campbell said he considers himself to have been “in politics all my life,” citing the landmark free-speech Supreme Court case he won, success advocating before the school board and being a columnist for the Miami New Times. He also ran for Miami-Dade County mayor in 2011 and shares what he called a “great relationship” with Secretary of State MARCO RUBIO, saying they connected over their shared love of sports, Miami and South Floridians.
“We don’t even talk politics,” he said. “We talk football. We talk sports.”
Florida’s 20th District he’s seeking to represent, in Broward County, has sizable and influential Caribbean-American and African-American populations. But the seat is vacant after former Democratic Rep. SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK resigned in April amid a House ethics verdict finding her guilty of allegedly stealing disaster funds and using them to campaign.
Campbell is critical of the former House member, saying her ethics and legal proceedings “embarrassed” her constituents. He called it “ludicrous” that she was running for the seat again, given her colleagues appeared poised to expel her before she resigned.
“Who in Congress is going to work with her? Who? We just voted to damn-near expel you,” he said. “Who is going to do anything to work with her to bring resources back to this district?”
A representative for Cherfilus-McCormick didn’t respond to a request for comment. She has pleaded not guilty in an ongoing federal criminal case, and could face more than five decades in prison if convicted. Campbell called it “asinine” to put her constituents through the “pain and suffering” of an election and trial.
He additionally accused Cherfilus-McCormick, who is Haitian American, of trying to gain sympathy from the Haitian community. “I trust in the Haitian people,” he said. “They see bullshit a mile away … To disrespect these people in this manner doesn’t sit well with them.”
Campbell also didn’t hold back against Democratic Rep. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, who hasn’t decided which district she’ll run in but whose possible candidacy in CD-20, following GOP redistricting, has created backlash among Black contenders already running. They’ve said they view it as a broader effort to weaken Black voting power.
Campbell said Wasserman Schultz should run in a neighboring swing district and called it “disgusting,” “despicable” and “appalling” for her to consider CD-20, accusing her of counting on Black voters to split their support among the existing candidates. He viewed it similarly, he said, to Southern governors who are pushing for redistricting and “wiping out these Black seats” amid ongoing fallout from the Supreme Court’s recent ruling eroding the Voting Rights Act.
“I welcome her to get in this race. I will drag her,” he said. “And you know what’s going to happen? The relationship between the Jewish community and the Black community will be over at that moment.” He added of the seat’s former longtime officeholder, who died in 2021, “ALCEE HASTINGS would be rolling over in his fucking grave.”
In an interview Monday, Wasserman Schultz said she was taking her time to make a decision and would do so “based on where and how I can best serve our community,” calling redistricting a “jarring experience.” She added that she was reaching out to leaders across South Florida. “It is important to have respectful conversations,” she said, “and ensure that I talk to people about what they think.”
Campbell hasn’t called for other candidates to drop out if she gets in, instead saying: “I want Black people in this district to show how strong we are and how we can stand together.”
