Elijah Manley, who ran earlier this year for Florida’s 20th congressional district seat and failed, was recently booked into jail on charges of writing threats, according to court records. Local law enforcement officials have not released details surrounding Manley’s arrest, however, Broward State Attorney’s Office spokesperson Paula McMahon issued a statement.
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The statement said that the Broward State Attorney’s Office would not be handling the case because the “listed victims have participated in several charitable drives organized by the Broward State Attorney’s Office over the years,” which could present a conflict of interest. The office has requested that the governor assign the case to a different state attorney’s office.
In the Democratic Party primary in Florida that took place in August, Manley came in third place, being soundly defeated by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a district that has traditionally been held by a black person. Manley is looking at two counts of intimidation-write/send threats to kill or injure and was also issued a $40,000 bond.
According to a report from NBC Miami, he was also ordered not to possess any weapons, contact the victims, or post on social media. The warrant for Manley’s arrest revealed that one of his posts said, “Every Democrat needs to get behind the Democratic nominee for Senate. Anybody not doing that, I promise you I’m going to cut your [expletive] head off.”
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The candidate being referred to in the post was Angie Nixon. A report from CBS News said that authorities revealed that Manley later tagged two individuals in the comments and wrote a slew of additional messages that investigators interpreted as threats. One comment read, “I’m talking to y’all. I saw y’all comments earlier. I’m already pissed off, do not piss me off more. I swear to god, take me to war over this black woman, and I promise y’all I will burn y’all [expletive] castle to the ground and anyone else in my way.”
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The warrant also said that Manley spoke with investigators and said that the comments were not meant to be actual threats. He then said that he, along with the two other individuals involved in the exchange, were having a political disagreement and that his comments were only made to challenge their political views, not a legitimate expression of intent to do them harm.
During the Democratic Primary race, Manley was a ferocious critic of Wasserman Schultz. During a candidate forum in June 2025, Manley put her on blast for running for a historically black seat representing South Florida in federal Congress. “ While the Republicans are trying their hardest to silence Black voices, I don’t expect somebody in our own party, a white Democrat, to do the same,” he said.
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“ We are not going back to a time where there were no Black people in Congress,” he added. Manley also told Politico that Wasserman Schultz is “is no different than the Republicans that are eviscerating Black representation across the South.” He then added, “She is everything that’s wrong with the broken unpopular Democratic establishment. … I look forward to retiring her from public office permanently.”
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