Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (née Cherfilus; /ˈʃɜːrfɪləs/ SHUR-fill-əss; born January 25, 1979) is an American businesswoman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 20th congressional district since 2022. Her district covers most of the Black-majority areas in and around Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. A member of the Democratic Party, she won a special election in 2022 to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Alcee Hastings.

In November 2025, Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted and charged with allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds, money laundering, and making illegal campaign contributions. If convicted, she faces up to 53 years in prison. An investigation conducted by the House Ethics Committee found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of 25 out of 27 charges.

Cherfilus-McCormick was born in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, to parents from Haiti and raised in the borough of Queens. She moved to Hollywood, Florida at 13 to attend high school. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and government from Howard University and a Juris Doctor from the St. Thomas University School of Law.

After graduating from college, Cherfilus-McCormick was a project manager for the New York City Transit Authority. From 1999 to 2007, she worked as the vice president for operations of Trinity Health Care Services, a Florida-based family home health care company co-founded by her stepfather, Gabriel Smith. She later was CEO.

Cherfilus-McCormick voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time during the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis. Cherfilus-McCormick voted to provide Israel with support following 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Cherfilus-McCormick is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. She serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

On December 27, 2023, the House Ethics Committee announced that it was investigating Cherfilus-McCormick over complaints that she may have violated campaign finance laws, failed to submit required disclosures, and carried out improper hiring practices. Subsequently, the investigative subcommittee of the Ethics Committee found that Cherfilus-McCormick's actions were consistent with the allegations in the criminal indictment against her, as well as more extensive misconduct, and included violations of campaign finance laws and regulations, criminal laws, the Ethics in Government Act, the Code of Ethics for Government Service, and House rules. Cherfilus-McCormick has denied the allegations. A hearing before the Ethics Committee was scheduled for March 26, 2026. The hearing lasted 7 hours, with the bipartisan committee finding Cherfilus-McCormick responsible for 25 of the 27 accused ethics violations. The finding paves the way for an expulsion vote by the full legislature. Both Cherfilus-McCormick and her lawyer have denied any wrongdoing.

Cherfilus-McCormick ran for Florida's 20th congressional district in the August 28 Democratic primary against incumbent Alcee Hastings in 2018. She lost, 73.6%–26.4%.

Cherfilus-McCormick challenged Hastings again in 2020. She noted various ethics concerns facing Hastings and his health as reasons for running. She lost the August 18 primary, 69.3%–30.7%.

After Hastings died on April 6, 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick ran again in the 20th district in the 2022 special election. During the campaign, she loaned $3.7 million to her campaign organization. She campaigned on progressive policies such as a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and a $1,000-a-month universal basic income. Her campaign was supported by Brand New Congress, a progressive organization that also backed candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib.

After a recount, Cherfilus-McCormick was declared the winner of the Democratic primary by five votes over Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness in an upset. She easily defeated Republican Jason Mariner in the January 11, 2022, general election. Cherfilus-McCormick is the second Haitian-American to be elected to Congress (after Republican Mia Love of Utah) and the first Haitian-American Democrat to be elected to Congress.

Following her narrow margin of victory in the special election, Cherfilus-McCormick was again challenged by Holness for the regular election. Cherfilus-McCormick handily defeated Holness in the August Democratic primary, 66%–27% with another 6% going to Anika Omphroy. Cherfilus-McCormick defeated Republican nominee Drew Montez-Clark with 72% of the vote in the November election.

McCormick was re-elected without opposition in 2024.

Cherfilus-McCormick is facing a primary challenge from 26-year old activist and substitute teacher Elijah Manley, who has out-raised and outspent her to date in the race. In September 2025, Cherfilus-McCormick filed a $1 million defamation lawsuit against Manley claiming that Manley has spread “blatant lies” about her record and reputation. In these ads, Manley has called Cherfilus-McCormick a "crook" and referenced her ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation. Manley has called the lawsuit frivolous. In January 2026, the lawsuit was dismissed. In October 2025, at a town hall meeting, Cherfilus-McCormick and Manley got into a heated exchange that ended with Cherfilus-McCormick telling Manley "your mama" multiple times.

For the 118th Congress:

• Committee on Foreign Affairs

  • Subcommittee on Africa
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability

• Committee on Veterans' Affairs

  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
  • Subcommittee on Technology Modernization (Ranking Member)

• Congressional Black Caucus

• Congressional Progressive Caucus

• Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus

• Congressional Ukraine Caucus

• Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment

Cherfilus-McCormick married lawyer Corlie McCormick in 2017 and lives in Miramar, Florida. They have two children together.

Cherfilus-McCormick is Protestant.

In 2023, Cherfilus-McCormick was referred to the United States House Committee on Ethics after they found that there was "substantial reason to believe" that Cherfilus-McCormick made payments to a state political action committee in connection with her campaign for U.S. Congress and did not report her payments as contributions to her congressional campaign.” In early 2026, the investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Ethics found that Cherfilus-McCormick's actions were consistent with the allegations in the criminal indictment against her, as well as more extensive misconduct, and included violations of campaign finance laws and regulations, criminal laws, the Ethics in Government Act, the Code of Ethics for Government Service, and House rules.

In January 2025, the state of Florida filed a $5 million lawsuit against Cherfilus-McCormick's South Florida-based Trinity Health Care Services business for knowingly accepting overpayments of invoices for work that was not actually performed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In November 2025, Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted on charges including theft of $5 million in FEMA funds, money laundering, making illegal campaign contributions, and conspiring to file a false federal tax return. Cherfilus-McCormick claimed innocence; she pleaded not guilty. She faces up to 53 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

The House Ethics Committee held a hearing on Cherfilus-McCormick's conduct on March 26, 2026. The following day, the bipartisan committee found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty on 25 of 27 charges. A subsequent committee meeting to determine what punitive actions are appropriate is planned for mid-April. The finding paves the way for an expulsion vote by the full legislature. Representative Greg Steube stated he intends to force a vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick. Representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez suggested Cherfilus-McCormick should resign or be removed.

2018

2020

2022

2024

• List of African-American United States representatives

• Women in the United States House of Representatives

• Representative Cherfilus-McCormick official U.S. House website

• Campaign website

• Appearances on C-SPAN

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission

• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress

• Profile at Vote Smart

• South Florida Congresswoman Charged with Stealing $5 Million in FEMA Funds and Making Illegal Campaign Contributions – US Department of Justice,