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Debbie Wasserman Schultz has launched a bid for a coveted congressional post: the chairmanship of the all-important House Appropriations Committee.

Two months ago, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz hosted a panel discussion on Venezuela policy in her South Florida district. To her right sat the most powerful woman in the United States, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Also in the room, other members of Congress, Venezuelan community leaders and a platoon of media.

Wasserman Schultz surged in the spotlight, transitioning from the nuances of immigration policy to firing salvos at Republicans, deriding fellow Floridian Rick Scotts plan as "full of bull crap." Scotts spokesman returned fire accusing Wasserman Schultz of the "same old partisan nonsense we've heard from her for years."

It was vintage Wasserman Schultz equal parts policy wonk and combative firebrand. The very mix that catapulted the Broward County Democrats political career from the Florida Legislature to Capitol Hill to chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.

>>READ: South Florida lawmaker leaned on mentor Elijah Cummings: He had do the right thing in his DNA

On Nov. 21, Wasserman Schultz launched a bid for a coveted congressional post: the chairmanship of the all-important House Appropriations Committee.

Fellow House Democrat U.S. Rep. Darren Soto of Winter Haven said it is time for a Florida member to sit in a leadership post.

"We are the third most populous state in the union, and yet we dont have any folks in leadership," said Soto, who believes his Florida colleague has the right mix of experience and youth for generational change compared to her rivals, who are in their 70s.

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Wasserman Schultz, 53, is currently a member of the committee, along with two other South Florida congressmen, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami.

Provided Democrats retain control of the House after the 2020 election, the desired leadership position would become available because of the announced retirement by current chair Nita Lowey, D-New York, who has served on Capitol Hill for 31 years.

Its expected Wasserman Schultz will be competing against two other rivals: U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.

"I think that Debbie Wasserman Schulz has built consensus wherever she has gone," said Florida Democratic supporter Mitchell Berger. "I think its a wonderful idea. I think it will be good for the nation, good for Florida."

>>PRIOR STORY: Protesters shout Shame on you! at Debbie Wasserman Schultz at Florida delegate breakfast

A stumble on the path for leadership

There was a time when Wasserman Schultz appeared to be on a fast-track to a top U.S. House committee chairmanship. One word changed that: WikiLeaks.

The trove of emails leaked during the summer of 2016 included communications that suggested DNC officials were favoring nominee Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during that years Democratic presidential primaries.

As the chair of the DNC, and someone that Clinton herself had described as a "longtime friend," Wasserman Schultz took the brunt of progressives and Sanders delegates ire. When she appeared at a Florida delegate breakfast at the convention site in Philadelphia, Wasserman Schultz was loudly booed.

"All of a sudden, quite a number of folks in the room went up in the front, so it blocked my view," remembered Clinton delegate John Ramos, who was in the room when Sanders delegates successfully disrupted Wasserman Schultzs speech. "They were chanting and just made it difficult for her to speak."

The outcry forced Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chair and, as punishment, she was not allowed to publicly lord over what would have been a crowning achievement: Presiding over the first political convention to nominate a woman for president in the cradle of the countrys founding documents.

Whats more, Wasserman Schultz returned from the political torching in Philadelphia to face, for her, a serious, unprecedented primary challenger in that falls 2016 congressional election.

Wasserman Schultz survived that political disaster. But even after Democrats took control of the House in the 2018 blue wave, others got committee chairmanships. Meanwhile, The Squad, including U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, took center stage on setting the tone and influencing the direction of the party.

Wasserman Schultz and her allies on the Hill say the 2016 controversy will not factor into her bid for the Appropriations chair.

"I think its water under the bridge as far as the members are concerned," said Soto, praising the congresswomans "larger-than-life work ethic" and reputation. "There is a big concern right now about having new blood in leadership."

The congresswoman says she will compete on her merits.

"I wouldnt have made the decision to run if I didnt feel confident that I could be competitive," she said last month after speaking at an anti-Trump rally in Sunrise organized by the Florida Democratic Party. "I spent a month before I made a final decision on whether I was going to seek the chairmanship, talking to my colleagues, asking their opinion, getting feedback."

One Florida progressive leader said he is less enthusiastic about seeing her in a House leadership position unless she acknowledges key facets of the progressive agenda.

"If people felt that in your previous position as DNC chair that there was a lack of transparency, youre now trying to be in charge of all this money. You would hope that there would be, like, this exercise in the utmost transparency," said Dwight Bullard, a former state senator and political director for the progressive group New Florida Majority.

Ramos, in his third term as state committeeman and first term as DNC member, put it more bluntly.

"They really hold their grudges," he said, adding that he does not believe many progressives have forgiven Wasserman Schultz, even though she has the experience and connections for the powerful position. "Its not going to be an easy path."

Then there is another issue, in the 15 years since Wasserman Schultzs first election to Congress, the Democratic Party has shifted. The 2018 wave election ushered an era of progressive fervor embodied by The Squad. Thats been evident in the early stages of the presidential race among Democratic rivals, and in the five debates since June.

So, Bullard said, the issue isnt just a question of "forgiveness."

"Really the question of capability or forgiveness has everything to do with a recognition by Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz that this is where we are today as opposed to the narrative thats framed around what shes done in the past," said Bullard, a 2016 Sanders delegate.

That will include addressing issues like burdensome student loan debt, high healthcare costs, climate change and sea level rise in the face of government spending on endless wars and subsidies to fossil fuel companies, he added.

"AOC and some of the more progressive names that have popped up, theyre naming these things all the time theyre kind of screaming it from the rafters," he said. "There are people out there who live on the struggle bus every day, trying to make ends meet and thinking and hoping that someone will take an actionable step to give them some sense of relief ... Thats not a pie-in-the-sky kind of thing, thats real life."

Bullard, who served with Wasserman Schultz in the Florida Legislature, believes that she speaks out on issues important to people outside of her district and demonstrates that she has overcome past transparency problems, she could win the leadership position.

Ramos said he encourages the various factions of the Democratic Party to "play nice" especially headed into the crucial 2020 election year.

"Youre going to have discord, it comes with the territory. And since were a big tent party, it gets messy," he said. "Its sad because we need 2020 is so important and its all hands on deck."

Ramos said he is supportive of the congresswomans bid for the House Appropriations leadership job.

"You just have to walk away from that and just nod your head," he said. "Theres that saying, We eat our own."

At the end of the day, however, the decision will be made by House Democrats, if they retain their majority.

A steering and policy committee composed of about a third of the House Democratic caucus will recommend a candidate, and then the full caucus of Democrats will vote on the pick.

In her letter announcing her candidacy for the post, Wasserman Schultz stressed knowledge, experience and a commitment to reforms in the appropriations process so not to continue operating from continuing resolution to continuing resolution.

"We need to bring the appropriations process into the 21st century," she said. "You never take any election for granted. I have to seek and secure the support of my colleagues and Ill be working on doing that over the course of the next year."

Reporting contributed by Hannah Morse

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Wasserman Schultz seeks top House post, will progressives back her? - Palm Beach Post