Elijah's Substack

The Audacity of a White Democrat

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:21:04 GMT

A white Democrat looked at a majority Black district with 34 years of Black representation and said: that’s where I’ll run.

❌Not because she has roots here.
❌Not because this community called her.
❌Not because she spent years fighting for the families of FL-20.
☑️But because Republican redistricting eliminated her safe seat, and a majority Black district was the most convenient landing spot available.

There’s a word for what she’s doing, and it isn’t representation...

Elijah Manley is 27 years old, Black, openly gay, and the first candidate to enter this race. He was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale’s historic Sistrunk community, taught in FL-20’s classrooms, and has been organizing for this district his entire life. He put it better than anyone when he said: “I didn’t think a white Democrat would be the one to take away a Black seat.”

Help us fight back against this racist power grab by contributing whatever you can toward Elijah’s campaign.

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Here’s the full picture of what Elijah’s opponent, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is doing and why it matters so much.

Republicans have spent years aggressively redistricting Black communities across Florida and across the South, weakening Black voting strength and eliminating districts that were hard fought and hard won. FL-20 survived that assault. It remained a majority Black district, a place where Black voters have real power and Black representation has been a constant for 34 years.

Then Wasserman Schultz showed up.

The Democratic Black Caucus of Florida said this: “At a time when aggressive redistricting has already weakened minority voting strength across Florida, the preservation of Black political representation is not optional. It is essential.“

Even House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who would normally be expected to support an incumbent, refused to endorse her. He called what’s happening across the South an unprecedented Jim Crow style assault on Black political representation. And he wouldn’t put his name behind hers.

❌ She had polling data showing she could win her own neighboring district. She chose FL-20 anyway.
❌ She approached the Congressional Black Caucus chair not for a conversation but to deliver information. The CBC chair said it herself.
❌ She’s raised $2.5 million from corporate donors to purchase a seat in a community she has never once fought for.

If you can spare $27 today, one dollar for every year of Elijah’s life spent in this community, you’re helping us stop this power grab in its tracks.

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Black leaders across FL-20 are working urgently to consolidate around a unity candidate to stop Wasserman Schultz from splitting the Black vote and walking through the middle. The deadline is June 12th. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Elijah has been clear about where he stands. “The majority of the people agree on one thing: keeping the seat represented by someone with our lived experience,” he said after meeting with the other Black candidates in this race.

That’s what this fight is about. Lived experience. Authentic representation. A community’s right to choose a leader who actually knows what it means to be them.

FL-20 didn’t survive Republican redistricting just to hand its seat to a white Democrat who ran out of options. This district has a voice, it has a history, and it has a fighter in Elijah Manley who will protect both.

Don’t let this seat be taken. Help us make history on August 18th by donating to Elijah Manley.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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He Invoked MLK. We're Responding.

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:30:31 GMT

Let’s talk about what happened in the Oval Office last week.

Donald Trump, after a week-long absence from public view, sat down and spent a significant portion of his time comparing himself to Martin Luther King Jr. Not addressing the ongoing economic crisis. Not addressing the mounting legal and political challenges facing his administration. Martin Luther King Jr. crowd sizes.

We wish we were making this up.

Elijah Manley is a proud son of Fort Lauderdale’s historic Sistrunk community, a place where MLK’s legacy isn’t a talking point. It’s a lived history. As a community organizer, educator, and candidate for Congress in FL-20, Elijah knows exactly what Dr. King fought for. And he knows exactly what Donald Trump has spent his presidency dismantling.

This is offensive. And FL-20 deserves a representative who’ll respond to it directly. Help us do that today.

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Let’s be very clear about what the real Martin Luther King Jr. stood for, and what Donald Trump has done to that legacy.

Dr. King marched for voting rights. Trump’s administration has overseen the most aggressive assault on Black political representation since the Jim Crow era. Dr. King fought against economic exploitation of Black communities. Trump’s Defense Secretary just purged women and Black officers from military promotion lists. Dr. King demanded dignity and equality for every American. Trump has gutted DEI programs, dismantled civil rights protections, and handed power to the wealthiest people in the country.

❌ The man who compared himself to MLK pardoned January 6th rioters who stormed the Capitol.
❌ The man who compared himself to MLK is the same man whose policies have set Black communities back decades.
❌ The man who compared himself to MLK has never once shown up for the people Dr. King died fighting for.

Invoking MLK’s name while actively working against everything he stood for isn’t just audacious. It’s a slap in the face to every Black family in FL-20 and across this country.

If you can spare $15 today, you’re helping elect a congressman who’ll stand up and call this out every single time.

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Here in FL-20, Dr. King’s legacy isn’t something we reference once a year and move on from. It’s the foundation of the fight we’re in right now.

The fight for affordable housing.
The fight for dignified healthcare.
The fight for Black political representation in a majority Black district.
The fight against a political establishment that takes Black votes and delivers nothing in return.

Elijah’s opponent in this primary, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has spent decades in Washington while the families of FL-20 waited for real representation. Trump is in the White House comparing himself to the greatest civil rights leader this country has ever produced. And the people of this district are still waiting for someone to fight back with the urgency this moment demands.

That’s exactly what Elijah Manley is running to do. Dr. King’s legacy deserves to be honored with action, not talking points. Help us take that action all the way to Washington. Support Elijah Manley for Congress today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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You Should've Been There

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 23:57:31 GMT

Seriously. You should’ve been there.

This weekend, our team was out in the community, face to face with the people of FL-20. Not at a fancy fundraiser. Not behind a podium. Out in the heat, at community events, handing out literature, having real conversations, and feeling the energy of a district that’s ready for something different.

That’s what a people powered campaign looks like.

Elijah Manley grew up in the streets of Fort Lauderdale’s historic Sistrunk community. He knows these neighborhoods because they raised him. He knows these families because he’s one of them. And when this team shows up on the ground in FL-20, people feel that difference immediately.

The conversations we’re having out here aren’t scripted. They’re real. And what we’re hearing from voters across this district is clear: FL-20 is ready for a representative who actually shows up.

Help us keep showing up. Chip in whatever you can today.

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Here’s what the establishment doesn’t understand about this race.

You can’t buy the kind of trust that Elijah has built in this community. His opponent, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has spent decades in Washington collecting titles, connections, and a voting record that’s let FL-20 down time and time again. She didn’t show up for this district when it needed her. She showed up when she needed it.

That’s not lost on the people we talked to this weekend.

❌ Voters in FL-20 aren’t looking for a familiar name on a ballot.
❌ They aren’t looking for someone who chose this district out of political convenience.
❌ They’re looking for someone who’s been here all along. Someone who never left.

Every door we knock and every hand we shake is another voter who understands exactly what’s at stake in this primary. If you can spare $20 today, you’re keeping our team on the ground where it matters most.

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The real work isn’t glamorous. It’s hot. It’s long. And it never really stops.

But this is how grassroots campaigns win. Not with the biggest war chest or the most establishment endorsements. With the most genuine connection to the people they’re asking to trust them.

This weekend reminded us exactly why we’re in this fight. The people of FL-20 are energized, they’re paying attention, and they’re ready to make history on August 18th.

We just need the resources to reach every single one of them before primary day. Help us keep the real work going. Support Elijah Manley for Congress today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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Florida Left Us

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:06:14 GMT

There’s a number that defines exactly what neglect looks like in FL-20: 17.1%.

Nearly one in five people in our community are one diagnosis, one accident, one emergency away from financial ruin. And Florida’s politicians have looked the other way for years.

Elijah Manley knows this number isn’t just a statistic. He’s lived it. Raised in Fort Lauderdale’s historic Sistrunk community without electricity, without reliable food, and without access to consistent healthcare, he understands what it means to fall through the cracks of a system that was never built for families like his. As a substitute teacher, a grassroots organizer, and a lifelong progressive running for Congress in FL-20, he’s done watching this district get left behind.

The broken system families in District 20 are navigating every single day looks like this:

150,000 residents in FL-20 are on Medicaid, and Florida keeps refusing to expand it.
Medical debt is bankrupting working families and destroying their credit scores.
Prescription drug costs are so high that people are skipping doses just to survive.
Black men in our community are dying at disproportionate rates from preventable conditions.

All of this is the direct result of decades of political decisions that chose insurance companies over people.

Elijah’s plan is bold and it’s built specifically for FL-20. He’ll fight to cosponsor Medicare for All, cancel medical debt, cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year out of pocket, and push for legislation that forces Florida to accept federal Medicaid dollars when the Governor won’t.

If you believe FL-20 deserves better, help us build the campaign that’ll make it happen today.

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There’s one part of Elijah’s healthcare platform that deserves its own spotlight: his commitment to Black men’s health.

The Democratic Party has taken Black men for granted for far too long. Black men in FL-20 are facing a quiet crisis: higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, prostate cancer, and mental health challenges, all compounded by a healthcare system that too often dismisses them entirely.

Elijah isn’t tiptoeing around it.

❌ It shouldn’t be normal for Black men to die younger because of systemic neglect.
❌ It shouldn’t be normal for a doctor’s office to be the last place a Black man feels safe.
❌ It shouldn’t be normal for mental health stigma to go unchallenged in our communities.

In Congress, Elijah will introduce legislation to establish a National Black Men’s Health Initiative and a White House Office of Black Men’s Health. He’ll fight for culturally competent clinics, scholarships to bring more Black men into mental health professions, and a federal agency empowered to investigate and act on medical racism.

This is a moral statement about whose lives this country is willing to fight for. District 20 deserves a representative who understands that healthcare isn’t a privilege for the lucky few. It’s a human right, and it’s time Washington started treating it like one.

Help us send Elijah Manley to Congress. Support the people’s campaign today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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Are You Paying Attention?

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 15:33:56 GMT

If you aren’t paying attention to this, you should be.

Something shifted in FL-20 this week. The kind of shift that makes a campaign staff stop, look at each other, and take a deep breath. The kind of shift that makes the other side nervous.

Elijah Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive who was born and raised right here in FL-20. He’s been fighting for this community his entire life. And right now, this race is moving in our direction.

The establishment didn’t see it coming. But we did.

72 days. That’s all that stands between FL-20 and the most important primary vote this district has seen in a generation. Every single hour between now and August 18th matters, and the momentum is on our side right now.

Help us keep it there before our weekly deadline tonight at midnight.

PRESS HERE TO SUPPORT ELIJAH

This week, Elijah was on the ground in FL-20. Passing out flyers. Knocking the doors. Talking to the families that every other candidate in this race has taken for granted. While his opponent was busy counting her AIPAC dollars, Elijah was in the community doing the work.

And our people noticed.

❌ The establishment said this race wasn’t competitive.
❌ They said a substitute teacher from Sistrunk couldn’t close the gap.
❌ They said the money would decide this race before it even started.

They were wrong on every count. And we need your help to prove it once and for all.

If you can spare $25 before midnight tonight, you’re directly funding the doors we knock, the voters we reach, and the ground game that’s going to carry Elijah Manley to victory on August 18th.

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Here’s what we know about the next 72 days.

Every hour counts. Every dollar raised by midnight tonight goes directly toward reaching voters who haven’t made up their minds yet. Voters who, once they hear Elijah’s story, once they understand what’s at stake in this race, are going to show up for him on primary day.

His opponent, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, isn’t going to watch this race slip away without a fight. She has the money, the establishment backing, and every incentive to come at us hard between now and August 18th.

But here’s what she doesn’t have. She doesn’t have Elijah’s story. She doesn’t have his roots. She doesn’t have a community that’s been waiting their entire lives for a candidate like him.

We do.

Don’t let this moment pass. Help us close the gap for good before midnight tonight and let’s take this all the way to August 18th.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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This Is Who's Keeping Us Safe?

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 23:40:25 GMT

You deserve to know what the Trump administration just did.

The Pentagon just hired a convicted January 6th rioter for a top secret counterterrorism role. Elias Irizarry stormed the Capitol through a broken window carrying a metal pole, pleaded guilty, went to jail, got pardoned by Trump, and was then handed a security clearance to work on hostage rescue and counterterrorism operations.

Does that seem normal to you? It doesn’t seem normal to Elijah Manley.

He’s spent his entire life in FL-20, fighting for the families this system has failed. As a substitute teacher, a grassroots organizer, and a progressive who’s never backed down from a fight, he’s running for Congress because someone has to say what everyone else is afraid to. He’s been fighting against this administration’s assault on our democracy since day one. And he isn’t staying quiet about this.

This is what happens when accountability disappears. Help us fight back today by chipping in just $3.

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Here’s what the record shows.

Irizarry had military training before January 6th, making his participation inexcusable.
He deleted data from his phone covering the days of the attack.
And his own colleagues at the Pentagon are raising red flags, saying someone with his background shouldn’t be anywhere near operations where special operators’ lives are at stake.

❌ This isn’t about giving someone a “second chance.”
❌ This is about handing a convicted Capitol rioter access to top secret national security operations.
❌ This is about an administration that pardoned insurrectionists and then rewarded them with power.

If you can spare $15 today, you’re helping us elect a congressman who’ll provide real oversight over this administration’s dangerous and reckless decisions.

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▪️This is the same administration that stripped women and Black officers from navy promotion lists.
▪️The same administration that’s dismantling USAID and leaving millions without humanitarian aid.
▪️The same administration that’s ignoring federal courts and rewriting the rules of democracy in real time.

And now they’re handing top secret security clearances to people who stormed the United States Capitol.

FL-20 needs a representative in Congress who’ll stand up, speak out, and fight back against every single one of these abuses. Someone who understands what’s at stake. Someone who won’t be intimidated. Someone who’ll introduce articles of impeachment and provide the kind of oversight this administration has never faced.

Elijah Manley is the one for the job. Help us send him to Congress today by chipping in whatever amount feels right.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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Your Tax Dollars Fund This Bigotry

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:22:52 GMT

Read this before it gets buried.

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, personally intervened in a United States Navy promotion list and scrubbed nine officers from it. Three women. Two Black officers. Gone. What was left was an all-male, overwhelmingly white slate of nominees for promotion to admiral.

This wasn’t an accident. According to sources familiar with the matter, Hegseth went through the list name by name and scrubbed them. The navy had been confident in every single officer on that original list. Hegseth didn’t explain himself to anyone.

Elijah Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive running for Congress right here in FL-20. He knows exactly what this is. This isn’t meritocracy. It’s discrimination, and it’s being funded by your tax dollars.

This is who they are. And FL-20 deserves a representative in Congress who’ll say so out loud. Help us send that representative to Washington today.

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This isn’t the first time Hegseth has done this.

In March, he directed the Army Secretary to remove two women and two Black officers from a nomination slate to become one-star generals.
He’s fired or sidelined nearly three dozen senior military officers since taking office.
He reassigned the first woman to ever lead the U.S. Naval Academy.
He dismissed a navy vice admiral serving as the U.S. military representative to the NATO military committee.

The numbers tell the story clearly:

More than 21% of the navy’s active service members are women.
Nearly 40% identify with racial minority groups.
The promotion list Hegseth approved reflects almost none of that reality.

❌ This isn’t about merit. The navy’s own admirals drew up the original list.
❌ This isn’t about qualifications. These officers had earned their place.
❌ This is about who Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump believe deserves to lead.

If you can spare $10 today, you’re helping elect a congressman who’ll fight back against every single one of these attacks on our military and our values.

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Elijah Manley has spent his entire life watching powerful people make decisions that hurt communities like his.

Black families in FL-20 know what it looks like when the system decides your excellence doesn’t count.
When your record doesn’t matter.
When your accomplishments get scrubbed from a list by someone who was never your equal.

This is that same story playing out at the highest levels of our military.

Congress has a responsibility to provide oversight and push back against this administration’s illegal and discriminatory behavior. But that only happens if the right people are in those seats. FL-20 needs a representative who won’t flinch, won’t negotiate on dignity, and won’t stay quiet while discrimination gets rebranded as meritocracy.

The right representative is Elijah Manley. Help us send him to Congress today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

By providing your information, you consent to be added to our SMS program, and subscribed to our Democratic programming, including email messages & substack.

She Knows What She's Doing

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:14:52 GMT

There’s something happening right here in FL-20 that every voter in this district needs to know about.

⬆️That’s Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

She’s a sitting U.S. Congresswoman who, after redistricting left her without a safe seat, made a deliberate decision to move into Florida’s 20th Congressional District, one of the most historic Black majority districts in South Florida, and run for Congress here.

❌A district she has no roots in.
❌A district she didn’t grow up in.
❌A district whose struggles she has never lived.

And she’s doing it with a war chest full of AIPAC money behind her.

Elijah Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive who was born and raised right here in FL-20. He’s running for Congress because this district deserves a representative who actually belongs to it, not one who chose it out of political convenience.

This primary is about more than two candidates. It’s about who FL-20 belongs to.

If you believe this district deserves authentic representation, help us fight back today.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, recently addressed the situation directly.

He called what’s happening across the South an unprecedented Jim Crow style assault on Black political representation. He communicated directly with Wasserman Schultz about her decision. And when pressed on whether he’d support her in this race, he wouldn’t say yes.

That’s not a small thing. That’s the leader of House Democrats refusing to cosign what Debbie Wasserman Schultz is doing in FL-20.

❌ Black political representation is under attack across the South.
❌ FL-20 is a majority Black district with a majority Black community that deserves a voice that reflects it.
❌ Running here isn’t brave. It’s a calculated power grab dressed up as public service.

If you can spare $20 today, you’re helping Elijah fight back against exactly this kind of politics.

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Elijah Manley has been part of this community his entire life.

He’s ridden its buses
He’s taught in its schools
He’s fought for its families since he was a teenager showing up at city hall when nobody invited him.
He didn’t choose FL-20 because it was politically convenient. He’s never left.

This primary is one of the most important races in South Florida, and the window to win it is closing fast. We need to raise significant resources every single day between now and primary day to compete against Wasserman Schultz and her outside money.

FL-20 has a choice. A candidate who chose this district when she ran out of options, or a candidate this district produced. The answer should be clear.

Help us make history. Support Elijah Manley for Congress today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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We Don’t Need Another Visitor in a Suit

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:56:13 GMT

There’s a particular kind of politician that FL-20 knows all too well.

The kind that shows up every two years with a fresh set of talking points and a brand new interest in the community they’d never paid attention to before. The kind that learns this district’s problems from a briefing document instead of from living them.

Elijah Manley didn’t discover FL-20 when he decided to run for Congress. He’s never left.

He grew up in Fort Lauderdale’s historic Sistrunk community, one of the most storied Black neighborhoods in South Florida. He went to school here. He started his first small business here, knocking on doors as a teenager to help his mother pay bills. He rides public transit here every single day, the same buses that thousands of working families in this district depend on just to get to work.

We need a representative who knows the district like the back of his hand. And Manley’s the one for the job.

If you’re ready to support a candidate who knows FL-20 from the inside out, chip in whatever you can today and help us build this campaign.

PRESS HERE TO SUPPORT ELIJAH

When Elijah rides the bus through District 20, he isn’t doing it for media attention. He’s doing it because it’s how he gets around, just like so many of the families he’s fighting for.

When he walks into a classroom as a substitute teacher, he isn’t doing it to pad a resume. He’s doing it because education has always been his calling.

When he shows up to fight for affordable housing, dignified healthcare, and good paying jobs, he isn’t doing it because a pollster told him those are the “winning issues.” He’s doing it because he’s felt the weight of not having those things himself.

❌ FL-20 doesn’t need a representative who has to be briefed on what poverty looks like here.
❌ FL-20 doesn’t need someone who’ll spend their first term learning what this community actually needs.
❌ FL-20 doesn’t need a visitor. It needs one of its own.

If you can spare $10 today, you’re investing in the only candidate in this race who’s been living the reality of FL-20 every single day.

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There’s something powerful about a candidate who doesn’t have to pretend.

Elijah doesn’t have to pretend to understand the housing crisis because he’s lived it. He doesn’t have to pretend to care about public transit because he depends on it. He doesn’t have to pretend to know what food insecurity feels like because he’s gone to school hungry.

FL-20 has waited long enough for representation that’s real, rooted, and ready. Elijah Manley isn’t just running for this district. He’s running as this district.

Help us send him to Congress. Support the people’s campaign today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

By providing your information, you consent to be added to our SMS program, and subscribed to our Democratic programming, including email messages & substack.

The People Are Betting on Us

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:33:07 GMT

Something remarkable just happened, and you need to know about it.

Elijah Manley is leading the FL-20 Democratic primary prediction markets. By three points, 48% to 45%, over Debbie Wasserman Schultz, with 76 days until the August 18th primary.

Prediction markets aren’t polls. They’re driven by real people making real financial bets on who they think is going to win. When Elijah pulls ahead on Kalshi, that means people across the country are looking at this race and putting dollars on a substitute teacher from Sistrunk to defeat a career politician with an AIPAC war chest behind her.

And the trend line is even more telling. Just a few weeks ago, Wasserman Schultz was sitting comfortably above 60%. Then something shifted. Elijah surged. She dropped. And she hasn’t recovered since.

The momentum in this race belongs to us, and we need to make sure it stays that way.

If you believe FL-20 is ready for real change, chip in whatever you can today and help us keep this momentum going.

PRESS HERE TO SUPPORT ELIJAH

Elijah Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive who was born and raised right here in FL-20. He’s running for Congress because this district deserves a representative who actually belongs to it. And right now, the people are putting their money where their mouth is.

Every single day between now and August 18th matters.

Wasserman Schultz isn’t going to go quietly. She has outside money, establishment backing, and every incentive to fight hard between now and primary day. She knows this race is slipping away from her, and she’s going to spend whatever it takes to stop it.

❌ We can’t let outside money drown out the voices of FL-20 voters.
❌ We can’t let the establishment reclaim a district that belongs to the people.
❌ We can’t let this momentum die because we didn’t have the resources to sustain it.

If you can spare $20 today, you’re directly funding the campaign infrastructure we need to capitalize on this moment and carry it all the way to August 18th.

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This race was never supposed to be close.

A first time congressional candidate, a substitute teacher from Sistrunk, taking on a sitting congresswoman with decades of establishment support. The political class wrote Elijah off before he even got started.

They aren’t writing him off anymore.

The people of FL-20 have always known what this team has always known: that Elijah Manley is the real deal. That his story, his roots, and his fight are exactly what this district has been waiting for. And now the rest of the country is starting to see it too.

Let’s finish what we started. Support Elijah Manley for Congress today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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He Was 19 With 43,000 Behind Him

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:01:57 GMT

Most people spend their teenage years figuring out who they are. Elijah Manley spent his time figuring out how to change things.

Growing up in Fort Lauderdale’s historic Sistrunk community, raised by a single mother in deep poverty, Elijah knew what it meant to be failed by the systems that were supposed to protect families like his. And instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, he started fighting back.

Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive who grew up right here in FL-20. He’s running for Congress because this district deserves a fighter who’s been in the trenches long before this race ever started.

But, there’s a clear defining moment in his life path.

When the devastating Parkland shooting that shook Broward County to its core, Elijah was pushed to do what almost no one his age would dare to do:

He channeled his grief into action.
He joined the March for Our Lives movement.
He decided to run for the Broward County School Board at just 19 years old.
He earned over 43,000 votes in a countywide race.

A kid from Sistrunk, with no political machine behind him, no wealthy donors, no establishment backing, earned 43,000 votes because people in this community saw something real in him??? That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people know someone’s worth the fight.

If you’ve been waiting for a candidate who’s proven they’ll fight regardless of the odds, Elijah is that candidate. Support his campaign today.

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The political establishment loves to tell young people to wait their turn. To pay their dues. To sit down and let the experienced voices lead.

Elijah never bought that.

❌ FL-20 doesn’t need another career politician who discovered this community at election time.
❌ FL-20 doesn’t need someone who learned about poverty from a policy briefing.
❌ FL-20 doesn’t need a representative who’ll take two years to find their footing in Washington.

This district needs someone who’s already been fighting. Someone who knows the terrain, knows the people, and knows exactly what’s at stake.

If you can spare $25 today, you’re backing a candidate who’s been earning that trust since before he was old enough to vote himself.

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Manley isn’t new to this fight. He’s been in it longer than most candidates twice his age will ever be. And the people of FL-20 have already shown, once before, that they believe in him.

Now he’s asking for that belief again. Not for a school board seat. For a seat in the United States Congress.

💚The same Sistrunk kid who knocked on doors to help his mother pay bills.
💚The same teenager who showed up at city hall when no one invited him.
💚The same 19 year old who turned grief into 43,000 votes.
⬆️That’s the man who’s ready for Washington, and Washington needs to be ready for him.

Help us make history in FL-20. Support Elijah Manley for Congress today.

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Our time is now. Let’s not waste another minute.

Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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Say Gay, Florida

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:36:00 GMT

Happy Pride Month, FL-20.

Today we honor every LGBTQ+ person in this district who has shown up, spoken out, and refused to shrink. Every gay kid who grew up in South Florida wondering if they belonged. Every transgender person who fought for the right to simply exist. Every family that stood by their loved ones when the state wouldn’t.

Elijah Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, a lifelong progressive, and an openly gay man running for Congress in FL-20. He isn’t celebrating Pride from the sidelines. He’s in this fight personally, and he always has been.

FL-20 deserves a representative who’ll fight back against every single one of these attacks. Help us send Elijah to Congress today.

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Pride Month means everything to our team. But we’d be doing you a disservice if we didn’t tell you the truth about what’s happening in Florida right now.

The state of Florida has spent years making life harder for LGBTQ+ Floridians:

Local governments can no longer fund or promote Pride celebrations.
DEI offices across the state have been gutted and eliminated.
Parents of transgender children are being blocked from accessing medically necessary care.
Rainbow crossings have been torn up, including outside the Pulse nightclub memorial in Orlando.
Lawmakers are pushing to ban Pride flags entirely and silence teachers who support LGBTQ+ students.

Elijah’s commitment to the LGBTQ+ community is personal. As a black member of the LGBTQ+ community, he’s carried the weight of being more than one kind of minority his entire life. He knows what it feels like to live in a state that treats your existence as a political punching bag.

In Congress, Elijah will oppose every piece of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that crosses his desk. ✅He’ll fight to protect gender-affirming care as a right
✅Defend the right to marry
✅Protect LGBTQ+ healthcare including HIV prevention and treatment
✅Push back against every attempt to erase this community from public life.
✅He won’t flinch. He won’t negotiate on dignity. And he won’t stop.

If you can spare $10 today, you’re helping us build a campaign that’ll take this fight all the way to Washington.

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Pride isn’t a month. It’s a movement, and movements need fighters who understand the stakes from the inside out.

FL-20 has never had a representative like Elijah Manley. A man who knows this community, who has everything on the line, who wants to fight for his people. This campaign is proof that the people this state has tried hardest to silence are the ones most ready to lead.

Celebrate today. Then help us win.

Support Elijah Manley’s campaign for Congress and let’s make FL-20 a district that every LGBTQ+ person can be proud of.

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Love should never be up for debate.

Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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They Let Us Bleed. Elijah's Done Watching.

Sun, 31 May 2026 16:10:55 GMT

There’s a number that defines exactly what neglect looks like in FL-20: 17.1%.

That’s the share of residents in Florida’s 20th Congressional District who don’t have health insurance. Nearly one in five people in our community are one diagnosis, one accident, one emergency away from financial ruin. And Florida’s politicians have looked the other way for years.

Elijah Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive who grew up right here in FL-20. He knows this number isn’t just a statistic. He’s lived it. Growing up in Fort Lauderdale’s Sistrunk community without electricity, without reliable food, and without access to consistent healthcare, Elijah understands what it means to fall through the cracks of a system that was never built for families like his.

That’s why healthcare is one of the defining fights of his campaign for Congress.

The broken system families in District 20 are navigating every single day looks like this:

150,000 residents in FL-20 are on Medicaid, and Florida keeps refusing to expand it.
Medical debt is destroying credit scores and bankrupting working families.
Prescription drug costs are so high that people are skipping doses just to make ends meet.
Black men in our community are dying at disproportionate rates from preventable conditions.

None of this is inevitable. It’s the result of decades of political decisions that prioritized insurance companies over people.

Elijah’s plan is built for FL-20. He’ll fight to cosponsor Medicare for All, cancel medical debt, cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year out of pocket, and push for workaround legislation that forces Florida to accept federal Medicaid dollars when the Governor won’t.

If you believe every family in South Florida deserves access to quality healthcare, help us build the campaign that’ll make it happen.

PRESS HERE TO SUPPORT ELIJAH

There’s one piece of Elijah’s healthcare platform that deserves its own spotlight: his commitment to Black men’s health.

The Democratic Party has taken Black men for granted for too long. Black men in FL-20 are facing a quiet crisis: higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, prostate cancer, and mental health challenges, all compounded by a healthcare system that too often dismisses them.

Elijah isn’t tiptoeing around it.

❌ It shouldn’t be normal for Black men to die younger because of systemic neglect.
❌ It shouldn’t be normal for a doctor’s office to be the last place a Black man feels safe.
❌ It shouldn’t be normal for mental health stigma to go unchallenged in our communities.

In Congress, Elijah will introduce legislation to establish a National Black Men’s Health Initiative and a White House Office of Black Men’s Health. He’ll fight for culturally competent clinics, scholarships to bring more Black men into mental health professions, and a federal agency empowered to investigate and act on medical racism.

This isn’t just “healthcare policy.” It’s a moral statement about whose lives this country is willing to fight for.

If you can spare $15 today, you’re investing in a campaign that’ll take these fights all the way to Washington.

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Elijah isn’t running on vague promises about fixing healthcare someday. He’s running with a plan, a platform, and a lived experience that no career politician in this race can match.

He’s fought for this community as a teenager at city council meetings. He’s fought for it on the campaign trail. And he’ll fight for it every single day in Congress.

District 20 deserves a representative who understands that healthcare isn’t a privilege for the lucky few. It’s a human right, and it’s time Washington started treating it like one.

Help us send Elijah Manley to Congress. Support the people’s campaign today.

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Help us elect a leader who fights for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

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They Said a Kid Like Him Would Never Make It

Team Manley for Congress — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:41:35 GMT

Elijah Manley grew up in Fort Lauderdale’s Sistrunk community, one of the most historic Black neighborhoods in South Florida.

He grew up without electricity. Without reliable food. Without knowing where his family would sleep. His mother worked as hard as any person could, and they still fell short. That was just life in District 20 for too many families.

Most kids in those circumstances are told, not always out loud but in every other way, that Congress isn’t for them. That power belongs to someone else. That the American Dream is another family’s story.

Elijah refused to believe that.

Manley is a substitute teacher, a community organizer, and a lifelong progressive who grew up right here in Florida’s 20th Congressional District. He’s running for Congress because the people of South Florida deserve a fighter in Washington who actually knows what it costs to live here.

Right now, families across District 20 are up against:

Rents that keep climbing with no ceiling in sight.
Healthcare bills that wipe out entire savings accounts.
Groceries that cost more every single week.
A political class that answers to donors before it answers to the people.

This isn’t happening by accident. It’s happening because the people making the decisions have never had to live with them.

If you’re ready to send a real fighter to Congress, one who’s felt the weight of these problems firsthand, chip in whatever you can today. Every dollar builds this campaign from the ground up.

PRESS HERE TO SUPPORT ELIJAH

Elijah started speaking at school board and city commission meetings as a teenager. After the Parkland shooting, he channeled his grief into action and ran for Broward County School Board at just 19 years old. He earned over 43,000 votes in a countywide race.

He wasn’t supposed to be there. But our system fails at representing the majority of the American people.

❌ Congress shouldn’t be a place reserved for the wealthy and well-connected.
❌ Working families shouldn’t have to beg for basic dignity.
❌ A man who grew up without electricity shouldn’t have to fight this hard just to be heard.

South Florida needs more than promises. It needs representation that’s personal, urgent, and real.

If you can spare $10 today, you’re helping us reach more voters across FL-20 with a campaign built on accountability, affordability, and the belief that government should work for everyone.

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This man isn’t running to become a career politician. He’s running because he’s seen what happens when people like us don’t have a seat at the table. And he’s done watching from the outside.

1️⃣Affordable housing.
2️⃣Dignified healthcare.
3️⃣Good jobs.
4️⃣A democracy that holds power accountable.
⬆️These aren’t “radical” ideas. They’re the bare minimum, and District 20 deserves someone who’ll fight for them like their life depends on it.

The movement we’re building is people-powered, and it only works if people like you are part of it. If you believe South Florida deserves better, please support Elijah’s run for Congress today.

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Team Manley
Supporters of Elijah Manley
Democrat for U.S. Congress, FL-20
The people’s campaign.

By providing your information, you consent to be added to our SMS program, and subscribed to our Democratic programming, including email messages & substack.