![\"Marshall](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/MIA_20231215AD0263MarshallD.jpeg\" "\\"Marshall")
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Marshall Davis outside his namesake Marshal L. Davis African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City. The longtime Miami arts advocate is running for congress in District 24.<\/p>\n
Al Diaz<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
A Miami cultural icon is entering the crowded race to succeed Frederica Wilson in Congress.<\/p>\n
Longtime director and now namesake of the Marshal L. Davis African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City entered the race just ahead of Friday\u2019s qualifying deadline.<\/p>\n
Davis was the center\u2019s director for four decades, starting in 1983, and turned the arts center into a talent incubator for a generation of Miami\u2019s Black artists<\/a>.<\/p>\n He told the Miami Herald in an interview Friday he hopes to bring the power of creativity and the arts into Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cIn all the problems that we have, there\u2019s a solution. You just have to have the compassion and the resources to make the changes that need to be made,\u201d he said \u201cI\u2019m hoping from an artistic and creative thought pattern, I\u2019ll be able to help make those changes.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis, 76, said that he had not previously considered a future in politics, but that friends asked him to run after Wilson announced she would not run for reelection.<\/p>\n He was initially opposed, until someone told him, \u201cSometimes the leader that you\u2019re looking for is in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I have done in the inner city for some of these children that have been disenfranchised is an indication of the type of leader I\u2019ll be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Davis helped create<\/a> an after school program and a summer arts conservatory at the center, and his impact and legacy was documented in the feature film \u201cAn Instrumental Start: A Model for the Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: \u2018Cultural icon.\u2019 Marshall Davis has been nurturing young Black artists in Miami for 40 years<\/a><\/p>\n He\u2019s the seventh Democratic candidate to qualify the primary election for one of the rare safe Democratic seats in South Florida without an incumbent.<\/p>\n State Sen. Shevrin Jones, county commissioner Oliver Gilbert, former county commissioner Jean Monestime and attorney and descendant of two of the district\u2019s former representatives, Kendrick Meek Jr., are also in the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wilson has not endorsed a candidate in the race. Davis said he has a longstanding relationship with Wilson, but had not talked to her about his planned run before filing.<\/p>\n He said his plans for Congress are a natural extension of his celebrated work in the arts.<\/p>\n \u201cTop priorities for me is making sure that there\u2019s equity, that we can all discover who we are and what we\u2019re capable of doing,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what we try to do for the children, we try to create an atmosphere where they feel safe, look out for their well-being, and we develop them. Why can\u2019t we do that and spread that umbrella to everyone?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Marshall](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Davis_Theater_jmk_08.JPG\" "\\"Davis_Theater_jmk_08.JPG\\"")
Marshall Davis Sr., director of the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center in Liberty City, helps the 5-year-old class line up for a recorder performance. Jennifer King <\/p>\n