The Florida legislature passed Gov. Ron DeSantis’s congressional redistricting proposal Wednesday during an ongoing special session.
The Sunshine State’s new map, which was passed by the state House and Senate after about a day and a half of review, is part of a coast-to-coast redistricting battle ahead of a high-stakes midterm election.
Florida’s upper chamber debated the proposal for several hours Wednesday but ultimately passed it in a 21–17 vote. The lower chamber had advanced it to the Senate earlier in the day in an 83–28 vote.
DeSantis on April 27 unveiled the new map that would add four districts favorable to Republicans. Critics say the drawing of the map based on partisan data is an illegal attempt to eliminate Democratic seats while helping to bolster Republicans’ slim majority in the lower chamber of Congress.
Florida’s new map could give Republicans 24 of the state’s 28 U.S. House seats—up from its previous split of 20–7. One seat is vacant following the resignation of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.).
The new map would leave Tampa Bay without any Democratic districts.
“That’s politically motivated,” Democratic state Sen. Darryl Rouson said during the debate.
Other Democratic state lawmakers have called the map a direct violation of their vows as representatives of the state and a hasty attempt to redraw districts. One state senator, Sen. Jason Pizzo, who has no party affiliation, agreed with the latter point and said he was unprepared to vote yes or no on the map.
“I can’t vote for this bill today… I have not been able to give proper treatment and deliberation,” Pizzo said. “I can’t speak to the great certainty that many people have spoken here today with great particularity and vigor about—they’re so certain about their legal positions, having never gone to law school.”
The map would apply to the 2026 midterm elections in November but is more than likely to face challenges from Democrats and other groups.
As the map passed in the Florida House early on April 28, one Democratic representative disrupted the proceedings, strutting up and down the center aisle of the floor blasting a bullhorn in opposition and screaming the map was “out of order.”
The lower chamber, despite the commotion, voted anyway and sent the map off to the upper chamber.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on April 29 issued a decision that deemed a race-based congressional map in Louisiana was unconstitutional. The Florida Senate took a recess to review the high court’s decision, which DeSantis also addressed in a post on X.
“Called this one months ago,” the Florida governor said about the Supreme Court ruling. “The decision implicates a district in FL — the legal infirmities of which have been corrected in the newly-drawn (and soon to be enacted) map.”
The Supreme Court case was a reason the Florida Legislature took up redistricting efforts in a special session. DeSantis and other Republican state lawmakers also cited a sharp increase in population growth as to why a new congressional map was necessary.
The governor said his state has been unfairly represented since the 2020 Census, and Florida’s political shift to becoming a Republican stronghold justified revisiting district boundaries. DeSantis noted that Republican voters outnumber Democrats by about 1.5 million in the state.
He also criticized Florida’s map being used prior to the redistricting, arguing that maps drawn with racial considerations are unconstitutional and should not be used.
DeSantis said the April 29 Supreme Court decision invalidates a provision of the Florida Constitution that requires the use of race in redistricting, which reads in part: “…districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.”
“Our new map for 2026 makes good on my promise to conduct mid-decade redistricting, and it more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today,” DeSantis told Fox News.
Florida’s map was passed a week after Virginia lawmakers attempted to pass their own redistricting measure that was expected to favor Democrats. After voters approved Virginia’s new map, a judge ruled it invalid and nullified the election results.
The Virginia Supreme Court on April 28 denied a bid by the state attorney general to strike down the lower judge’s ruling.
California and Texas have also undergone efforts to redraw districts prior to the midterms.
From The Epoch Times