A person attending a meeting of Black congressional candidates disputes an allegation by Elijah Manley that Dale Holness made antisemitic remarks.
Stephen Johnson said he was also in the room and never heard Holness raise the subject of Jewish Americans at all. In fact, Johnson said he only recalls himself bringing Jewishness into the conversation regarding Manley.
That came up in a discussion of potential political baggage each candidate brought to a Democratic Primary in Florida’s 20th Congressional District. Johnson asked if Black churchgoers would accept Manley being Jewish and LGBTQ.
“We are familiar with individuals of Jewish American heritage,” Johnson recalls saying. “You are of the Sammy Davis Jr. variety, and don’t you think that may be a bit much?”
Johnson said he wasn’t criticizing Manley, but that the private meeting was supposed to be a venue to determine who the best Black candidate may be to face U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a Democratic Primary. That meant weighing political liabilities.
Manley said he certainly remembers Johnson’s remarks and confirmed Johnson’s attendance at the meeting.
“He most certainly asked that, but Holness indeed made those comments,” Manley said.
Manley stood by claims Holness had openly pushed back on accusations against his own political baggage, saying “the Jews are coming for all the seats” and have been fighting Holness his entire public career.
Wasserman Schultz, who is Jewish, declined to comment.
Johnson said he was most disappointed Manley discussed the meeting with members of the press when discussions were supposed to be confidential.
“This was a Black community conversation, a necessary conversation based on circumstances imposed on us from outside the Black community,” Johnson said. “We had hoped participants recognized the need for it, and we had all expected, and every one of them had agreed, that what was said in this Black community conversation among the four vying for CD 20 would have stayed there.”
Wasserman Schultz announced her run for CD 20 after Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted a new congressional map that dismantled her district. It also targeted CD 20, which since 1993 has been a majority Black district and elected Black Representatives to Congress.
