Debbie Wasserman Schultz tripped into the jaws of hell over the weekend, and it doesn't look like she'll emerge from Hades any time soon. Following Wikileaks' release of a trove of unflattering emails stolen from the DNC (with Russia as the likely source behind the hack), Wasserman Schultz was forced to step down as committee chair. While some Bernie Sanders fans exploded in a cavalcade of rage because some of the emails showed DNC staffers trying to undermine Sanders' campaign, the most interesting facet of this whole debacle emerged in a Politico piece that reported that Hillary Clinton's own camp had tried to push Wasserman Schultz out as long ago as last year. The only reason she stayed on is because Barack Obama reportedly didn't want to expend the effort to oust her.
The timing couldn't have been worse for Wasserman Schultz, with the Democratic National Convention starting on Monday. She was replaced as DNC chair on an interim basis by Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore's campaign in 2000, and as chair of the convention by Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge. Sanders supporters were not appeased, though, and they booed her continuously when she addressed her home-state delegation in Philadelphia on Monday morning. Wasserman Schultz defiantly promised, "You will see me every day between now and Nov. 8 on the campaign trail"—though Democrats didn't want her to gavel in the convention and ultimately succeeded in keeping her from the stage.
But it's probably not Philadelphia that should concern Wasserman Schultz: She still has a primary with law professor Tim Canova to worry about. Canova raised an insane $1.7 million in the second quarter, thanks in large part to Sanders backers eager to lash back at Wasserman Schultz, and spent $1.2 million. Wasserman Schultz, for all her many faults, is still an excellent fundraiser, and she took in $1.2 million herself. But she spent far less, just $546,000, so perhaps she's not all that concerned about her challenger.
However, those numbers all predate the email imbroglio, and it's hard to say how it'll play in Florida’s 23th District. Wasserman Schultz still has a fundraiser on Aug. 5 with Joe Biden (it was originally scheduled for June but was postponed after the Pulse nightclub massacre), so that's a sign—contra her comparatively low spending—she's taking this race seriously. As we've noted before, Hillary Clinton prevailed here by a better than two-to-one margin in March's presidential primary, so that's a serious built-in obstacle to anyone trying to ride the Sanders movement to victory. But it's possible that disgust over these latest developments could jolt some Clinton supporters away from the incumbent, perhaps enough to make this contest truly competitive. We'll find out on Aug. 30.