Uncle Luke for Congress? Luther Campbell announces candidacy for House seat

David J. Neal, Miami Herald on Feb 15, 2026

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The epic arc of former rapper-turned-community-activist Luther Campbell’s life will curve into a run for Congress, the former high school football coach announced Sunday morning.

On WPLG Channel 10’s “This Week in South Florida” with Glenna Milberg, Campbell, aka “Uncle Luke,” announced that he resigned as Miami Edison High School football coach in January because he’ll run for the Florida District 20 U.S. House of Representatives seat held by Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

Campbell, 65, ran for office once before, in the 2011 special election for Miami-Dade County mayor. He finished with almost 11% of the vote, fourth behind Julio Robaina, Carlos Gimenez and Marcelo Llorente. (Gimenez beat Robaina in a runoff.)

Campbell acknowledged he considered running for Cherfilus-McCormick’s seat in 2024 but didn’t because “I needed to do more outreach to community, and there was a sitting congresswoman who was doing the job.”

Cherfilus-McCormick has held the seat since 2022. While defending her spot against any political challengers, she’ll also be defending herself in federal court. She has pleaded not guilty to a 15-count indictment that accused her of stealing a $5 million overpayment of government disaster funds.

Campbell didn’t bring up Cherfilus-McCormick’s legal situation on Milberg’s Sunday morning show. Instead, he said if she were doing her job, people in the district that includes Lauderhill, Belle Glade, Riviera Beach, parts of Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach wouldn’t have had so many complaints about housing and employment issues.

Also, Campbell said, there needs to be action from this seat as Donald Trump’s administration tries to end Temporary Protected Status for various groups.

“In this race, who’s going to be able to talk to (Secretary of State, former U.S. Senator and Miami native) Marco Rubio? Who’s going to be able to talk to Donald Trump? Me,” Campbell said. “I’m the only one who can do that in this race.

“Anything I got done in Liberty City, anything I got done in Miami, I had to have a conversation with (former) Mayor (Francis) Suarez,” said Campbell, a Democrat. “Through (former Miami City Commissioner) Keon Hardemon. I had to have conversations with different people from the other side of the aisle.”

The district starts just north of the spot in Broward County where Campbell and the rest of 2 Live Crew, a year after topping rap charts with “Me So Horny,” got arrested on obscenity charges in a club for performing that and other songs off “As Nasty As They Wanna Be.”

Over the last 35 years, Campbell has gone from being seen as either evidence of cultural decay or brilliant Black entrepreneurship to being seen as a community uncle in working-class neighborhoods, particularly in the Black community. As Edison’s football coach, he was entrusted to guide young athletes whose parents bought banned 2 Live Crew records and tapes as teens.

“Most people will get into a race, and they’ll say ‘Write down the 10 things you don’t want people to know about,’” Campbell said. “Well, the 10 things I don’t want people to know about, everybody already knows about. People know my history. At the same time, people know the things I’ve done in the community. They know the community outreach.”

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