Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell was once known for pushing the envelope with explicit rap lyrics. Now, the 2 Live Crew frontman is pushing for change in South Florida and Washington.
The hip-hop pioneer, high school football coach, free speech advocate, and South Florida activist announced his plans to run for Congress on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Campbell sat down with Miami’s WPLG Local 10 News and said he plans to challenge Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in the 2026 Democratic primary for Florida’s 20th congressional seat.
“It is a very underserved community district,” he said. “The representation is not there… I looked at the race and I said, ‘If the congresswoman was doing her job, then I wouldn’t get in the race.'”
Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted in November by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds, and accused of using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign. She denied the allegations, saying “the full facts will make clear I did nothing wrong.”
Campbell said Sunday that people living in South Florida’s 20th district feel left behind.
“They’re talking about losing a prison that employed so many people. And you talk about the sugarcane business, how it became automated and folks losing their jobs,” he said, adding that homelessness, clean drinking water, and ICE immigration raids are also top priorities.
The WPLG news anchor pushed back.
“Keeping it real… What are you going to do about all of those things?” she asked.
“You go in and you get creative,” Campbell responded. “Donald Trump and the rest of his cabinet have gutted the Department of Education. So you’ve got to figure out ways to get people educated… A young lady would normally go to nursing school. She can’t go to nursing school, [because] he’s attacked all of these different things.”
In 2025, the Trump administration moved to exclude nursing as a “professional degree,” and limit access to student loans, NBC News reported.
Campbell found fame and fortune through music after growing up in Miami’s impoverished Liberty City neighborhood.
As 2 Live Crew climbed the charts in the 1980s with songs like “Me So Horny,” politicians and women’s rights activists attacked the group, saying its music was offensive.
Campbell defended his free speech rights in the media and in the courts.
His 2015 memoir The Book of Luke said he “spent over a million dollars of his own money fighting cops and prosecutors all the way to the Supreme Court to protect his — and every other artist’s — right to free speech.”
Campbell, 65, said Sunday he considered running for Congress in 2024, but decided against it to “do more outreach to the community.”
He insisted now is the time, saying he’s “plugged in” with D.C. powerbrokers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Who’s gonna be able to go talk to Marco Rubio? Who’s going to be able to go talk to Donald Trump? Me, I’m the only one running that can do that,” he said. “I mean, I got Marco Rubio on speed dial.”
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