Uncle Luke for Congress? Luther Campbell, rapper turned civic activist, preparing to challenge congresswoman

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Luther Campbell, the civic and political activist who jolted the establishment status quo decades ago with his raunchy lyrics, has a new way to shake things up: challenging a sitting Florida congresswoman in a Democratic primary.

Publicly, Campbell hasn’t decided. But he’s been teasing a candidacy — sometimes in unorthodox ways even by current-day routines of celebrity politicians — in a way that makes it sound as if he’s going to run.

“I’m still on this fact-finding mission to figure out whether or not I’m gonna run for Congress,” Campbell said in a social media video posted on April 9, adding, “It’s gonna be very hard for me not to run. Let’s put it that way.”

In a subsequent interview with WFOR-Ch. 4, he edged closer. “I’m really leaning towards running. I’m really leaning because,” he said, there’s “nothing telling me that I shouldn’t do it.”

A decision has to come quickly. Even though the primary isn’t until August, Florida congressional candidates face an April 26, deadline to qualify to get on the ballot. In one of his many social media posts about running, Campbell promised a decision two days before the deadline.

Campbell, better known to many as Luke Skyywalker and later Uncle Luke from his career as a rap artist, would be challenging U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who is in her third year representing a Broward-Palm Beach county district.

He’s also known for his civic activism and coaching youth sports in Miami-Dade County, where he successfully ran for county mayor in 2011. Records show he’s a longtime registered voter in Miramar.

A Campbell candidacy would instantly make the primary contest one of South Florida’s highest profile, attention grabbing and unorthodox campaigns of 2024.

Campbell exploded in the public consciousness as the leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew.

A federal judge in South Florida declared the lyrics of its platinum-selling album “Nasty As They Wanna Be” were obscene, a ruling eventually overturned by an appeals court.

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