Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a new congressional map that could give Republicans control of 24 of Florida’s 28 U.S. House seats, turning the nation’s biggest swing state into one of the GOP’s most powerful redistricting weapons ahead of November.
DeSantis OK’d the map privately on May 4, according to a social media post. “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” it said.
Backed by GOP supermajorities in the Legislature, the plan was approved April 29 after a tumultuous special session and is designed to boost Republicans’ chances of gaining four new seats in the narrowly divided U.S. House.
The new boundaries threaten Democratic incumbents, including U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor of Tampa, Darren Soto of Orlando and Jared Moskowitz of Parkland, along with a South Florida seat recently vacated by Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
Other Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, face tougher reelection prospects under dramatically altered districts.
Republicans have acknowledged that the map relies on partisan performance data even though the state constitution’s Fair Districts amendments explicitly forbid drawing lines that help or hurt a party or incumbent.
The partisan tilt has some in the GOP privately worried that making more Democratic-leaning districts competitive requires weakening safe Republican strongholds, raising the risk of a “dummymander” that could cost them seats if the political climate shifts.
Veteran Orlando Republican U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster’s April 28 decision not to seek re-election already is seen as a casualty of the redraw.
Fair Districts clash and looming lawsuits
The Fair Districts amendments, approved by voters in 2010, also bar lawmakers from drawing boundaries that diminish minority communities’ ability to elect candidates of their choice.
But the Florida Supreme Court, in upholding the current congressional map adopted in 2022, ruled last year that Fair Districts’ racial protections conflict with the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection guarantees.
DeSantis now argues that ruling effectively nullifies all Fair Districts standards, including the ban on partisan gerrymandering, and most Republicans went along with his legal theory.
Democrats and voting-rights advocates insist potential Fair Districts violations are certain to be central to any legal challenge and have vowed to sue over the new map.
U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has already warned Florida Republicans, “See you in court.”
Lawsuits are expected to be filed almost immediately, with plaintiffs likely to argue that DeSantis cannot use equal protection doctrine to erase voter-approved restraints on partisan line-drawing.
Trump-era redistricting war and SCOTUS ruling
Florida’s redraw is part of a multi-state redistricting war triggered when President Trump urged Republican-led states to recast boundaries to help the GOP win more seats.
Seven states, beginning with Texas, have reworked their congressional lines, and Florida’s plan could hand Republicans a bounty of seats that helps preserve their narrow House majority and Trump’s influence in his final two years in the White House.
The Capitol drama unfolded just as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana congressional map after finding lawmakers illegally used race to craft a new majority-Black district.
The court’s conservative majority said the Voting Rights Act only prevents maps that intentionally limit minority voters’ power, narrowing the scope for race-conscious line-drawing.
DeSantis quickly posted on X that the ruling also invalidates provisions of the Florida Constitution requiring the use of race in redistricting, a message his allies say bolsters the state’s case against Fair Districts.
Bullhorn on the House floor causes temporary chaos
The signing ceremony followed a special session marked by protests and procedural chaos, capped by a dramatic moment on the House floor.
Just before that chamber’s 83-28 vote, Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, strode up the center aisle wielding what appeared to be a pink toy bullhorn, repeatedly shouting that Republicans were defying the Fair Districts amendments’ ban on partisan gerrymandering.
“It is out of order,” she yelled, briefly bringing the chamber to a standstill before the GOP supermajority pressed ahead.
Critics continue to call the plan illegal gerrymandering designed to favor one party over another and warned that Florida’s latest political lines will now be fought over not just in Tallahassee, but in courtrooms and House races across the country.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis signs Florida map, boosting GOP House seats
Reporting by Jim Rosica, John Kennedy and Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
