Luther Campbell offers new explanation for missing congressional candidates' forum

Anthony Man, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Jun 20, 2026

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Congressional candidate Luther Campbell offered a new explanation on Friday for why he wasn’t at this week’s candidate forum featuring all the other Democrats running in the 20th Congressional District primary.

On Wednesday, shortly after the forum concluded, Campbell posted a video on social media asserting that he missed the event because neither he nor anyone from his campaign had received a formal invitation.

“Under no circumstances did I confirm anything,” he said Wednesday, adding, “I don’t run from a fight.”

Campbell said he’d had only an informal conversation about it with Don Wiggins, president of debate sponsor WDFL-TV.

Wiggins’ organization strenuously pushed back on Campbell’s assertion — and it offered receipts, including an email from someone associated with the Campbell campaign who wrote that he was “writing to confirm the campaign’s participation in the WDFL-TV congressional forum on Wednesday June 17th.”

At 2:27 p.m. Friday, Campbell acknowledged that what he said Wednesday night wasn’t accurate.

He deleted the original explanation video from social media, and posted a new one. In the video and in a written statement, he apologized to the Urban League of Broward County, which hosted the candidate forum in Fort Lauderdale and co-sponsored it with WDFL.

“Yo, what up, this is your boy, Uncle Luke. This message for the good folks of the Urban League of Broward County. I missed your debate the other day. I did a post about not getting invited. After further investigation, you guys, I want to issue an apology. You did send the email to individuals who no longer work with this campaign, so it’s no fault of yours. They should have told you that they no longer work for the campaign,” he said.

Campbell said he had told Wiggins during their interaction at a happy-hour event that he should send an invitation directly to him.

In a written statement posted alongside the video he said “that an invitation to your congressional debate was in fact sent to individuals who were previously associated with my campaign. Unfortunately, that information was never passed along to me and was not placed on my calendar.”

Organizers on Wednesday had expected Campbell, famous from his time as a leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew and more recently a civic activist, would attend. A chair was set up for him, his picture was projected on a big screen with the other candidates, and a moderator said if he arrived late he’d be welcome to participate.

The other four Democrats — Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Dale Holness, Elijah Manley and Debbie Wasserman Schultz — participated in the forum, which lasted about an hour and 40 minutes. On social media Campbell has been sharply critical of Wasserman Schultz, the longest-serving Democrat in the Florida Congressional Delegation, for her decision to run for reelection in the 20th District.