JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The video above is from a previous report.
Former U.S. Congresswoman and convicted felon Corrine Brown has announced that she will be running for office again. Brown announced her candidacy on Thursday, according to her campaign website.
“I’ve represented most of the people of the new 10th District during my 24 years in Congress and I always earned huge support in this region,” the website says. “Now I see our hard-won gains are being taken away from us. Minorities have lost opportunities to elect candidates of their choice because of the recent gerrymandering in the State of Florida."
The former congresswoman was convicted of tax fraud in 2017. She served more than two years of a five-year sentence, but was released in 2020 due to health issues and COVID. That conviction was overturned on appeal, however, in 2021. In May, she pled guilty to one count of tax fraud while being retried. In exchange for the plea, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped all but one charge.
According to the terms of her plea deal, Brown "may" be deprived of certain rights, including holding public office. However, the U.S. Constitution allows a convicted felon to be a member of congress.
Brown filed her petition papers marking her official candidacy on Thursday, running for the open seat left by U.S. Rep. Val Demings. Rep. Demings is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican Marco Rubio, her website says.
Brown's campaign website boasts the slogan 'Fights For Us' over the donation section.
Brown was convicted in 2017 on 18 counts stemming from what prosecutors said was a sham charity that she used as a personal slush fund. That conviction was reversed in May 2021 by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the trial judge improperly removed a juror who said he was being guided by “The Holy Ghost” during deliberations.