Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Broward County's Supervisor of Elections, Joe Scott, is urging voters to hand-deliver mail-in ballots after complaints of slow postal delivery, with some ballots taking nearly two weeks to arrive or failing to arrive at all; the U.S. Postal Service says it is investigating. Neighboring Miami-Dade County reported no similar delays. In Philadelphia, officials highlighted security at the city's Election Warehouse and urged roughly 40,000 voters still holding mail ballots to return them in person, noting postmarks do not count. In Ohio, heavy early voting turnout in Franklin County has strained absentee mail delivery, with some overseas ballots stalled in transit as the Election Day deadline nears.

Elsewhere, Knox County, Tennessee reported more than 102,000 early votes cast ahead of its November 3 election, with officials reminding absentee voters that completed ballots must reach the county election commission by the close of polls on Election Day, not simply be postmarked by then.

The Venue Fort Lauderdale withdrew as host of a Friday rally featuring Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib after State Rep. Michael Gottlieb, chair of the Florida Legislative Jewish Caucus, publicly called the event an "anti-Jew" gathering. The venue, which said it is Jewish-owned, cited "increased security concerns" for the cancellation. Organizers moved the event to a Fort Lauderdale wine bar. The Florida Democratic Progressive Caucus called the cancellation rooted in anti-Muslim sentiment.

The rally was meant to support state Rep. Angie Nixon's U.S. Senate bid and congressional candidates Elijah Manley and Oliver Larkin ahead of Florida's August 18 Democratic primary. The episode highlights growing tension within the Democratic Party over Israel policy, as progressives like Tlaib and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani push back against U.S. support for Israel's actions in Gaza and Lebanon, straining the party's traditional bipartisan backing of Israel.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) won her party's primary in Florida's newly drawn 20th Congressional District, a plurality-Black seat centered on Broward County, after her old 25th District seat was eliminated in Republican-led mid-decade redistricting ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Rather than run in a new, whiter district that favored Trump, she chose to compete in the 20th, drawing criticism from local Black leaders, the Broward Black Democratic Caucus, and Congressional Black Caucus members who saw her candidacy as a threat to Black political representation already weakened by the Supreme Court's rollback of the Voting Rights Act; Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to endorse her.

Wasserman Schultz defeated a divided field of four Black challengers — former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, rapper Luther "Luke" Campbell, Elijah Manley, and Dale Holness — leaning on seniority, fundraising, and an Appropriations Committee seat while her rivals split the opposing vote. Her win makes her the only white House member representing a plurality or majority-Black district heading into 2027, following the elimination of Rep. Steve Cohen's Memphis district by Tennessee Republicans. The broader Florida redistricting effort cut four Democratic-leaning seats ahead of the midterms.