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The Florida Legislature has approved a new congressional map sent to them just two days earlier by Gov. Ron DeSantis that could give Florida Republicans up to four new congressional seats in the November midterm elections.
The Florida Senate voted, 21-17, Wednesday afternoon to approve the map. Four Republicans – Jennifer Bradley, Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia, and Erin Grall — joined independent Sen. Jason Pizzo and all 12 of the Democrats in opposing the map.
Their vote came several hours after the Florida House passed the map on an 83-28 vote, with only one Republican — former Democratic Rep. Hillary Cassel from Dania Beach — joining all Democrats in that chamber to oppose the map.
Republicans now hold 20 of the state’s 28 congressional districts.
The House vote took place just an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Voting Rights Act alone does not justify race-based redistricting. The governor had predicted for months that the state would have to conduct mid-decade redistricting because of how the high court would rule in that case — and not, he insisted, because President Donald Trump had called on red states last summer to redistrict to help maintain GOP control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Instead, attorneys for DeSantis said this week that the state had to redraw its map to ensure it was “race neutral” and to account for the population growth in Florida since the 2020 U.S. Census.
Democrats and voting rights groups called the DeSantis drawn map a blatant violation of a provision in the Fair Districts Amendments passed by more than 60% of voters in 2010 that says “no district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party on an incumbent.”
However, attorneys for DeSantis this week pushed a legal theory that Fair Districts is unconstitutional because of another provision in it stating that districts “shall not be drawn with the result or intent 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.”
They contend that language violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that the Florida Supreme Court indicated agreement with that position when it approved the governor’s 2022 redistricting map last year.
They further maintain that the race-based requirements of Fair Districts “cannot be severed” from the other parts of the 2010 constitutional amendments (one for the legislature, the other for Congress), like the provision banning partisan gerrymandering.
Legal stretch
But Democrats view that as a legal stretch.
Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, asked the House bill sponsor, Rep. Jenna Mulicka-Persons, R-Fort Myers, Wednesday whether she was aware that the non-severability argument had not been adopted by any Florida court.
“Well, until last summer the Florida Supreme Court had never answered the question as to whether our non-diminishment clause under our state Constitution was a compelling reason to disregard the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment,” Mulicka-Persons responded. “That was an unanswered question and the Florida Supreme Court just answered it. So there are many unanswered questions in this evolving legal landscape.”
Democrats repeatedly questioned the speed with which the process proceeded. Unlike previous redistricting efforts, which have included weeks of public hearings, the Legislature spent just three days to receive, consider, and vote on a map written by the governor’s office.
The debate leading into the House vote took less than 90 minutes, with no Republicans speaking on it. Some did comment afterwards, however.
“This is a great day,” said Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, after the vote. “I have a ton of comfort because the Callais [v. Louisiana U.S. Supreme Court] decision came out. I got to read it, and it perfectly summarizes exactly why we could, and should, change our 2022 maps.”
During questions on the Senate floor, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, asked Republican bill sponsor Don Gaetz of Crestview whether he “bought” the argument that race-based requirements in Fair Districts cannot be severed from other requirements, specifically as it relates to the prohibition on partisan gerrymandering.
“There were those in the room who appeared to take the position that there are aspects of the Fair Districts that could be, that are, and ought to be not necessarily thrown out … but the governor’s counsel has said the executive branch position is that the rest of Article 3, Section 20, cannot be saved and is inseparable,” Gaetz replied. “I believe that’s a topic for later construction by this Legislature.”
On the Senate floor, Democrats lashed out at what was happening.
Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, said that if the partisanship behind the effort wasn’t already obvious, it became so on Monday morning when the new congressional redistricted map was first unveiled on Fox News’ website.
“It was rolled out on national media color-coded in red and blue as if the outcome was already decided. As if our process did not matter,” she said.
Cognizant that the partisan gerrymandering requested by Trump is illegal in Florida, DeSantis for months insisted the state would have to redistrict because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s expected ruling on the Voting Rights Act that was ultimately handed down on Wednesday.
He also said it was about Florida being cheated out of a congressional seat following the 2020 U.S. Census, and then that the state needed to adequately address its increased population since the 2022 redistricting took place. Citing information compiled by the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, the DeSantis team said that 1.8 million people moved to Florida between 2020 and 2025.
‘Quiet part out loud’
“I’ve got to give him credit,” Sen. Smith said. “The governor and his team have been somewhat disciplined in making sure that they never said the quiet part out loud. That the real reason this is happening is because, yes, Florida is trying to rig these maps to keep Trump’s Republican Party in power. He was very careful never to say that out loud, because he knows that’s blatantly illegal.”
Gaetz also pushed back on Democrats’ contention that DeSantis had neutered the Legislature’s power by bypassing it when creating the map. “This is not the governor’s decision,” he said. “It sure is not the president’s decision. It’s not any political party’s decision. Nobody told me to do this, nobody told you how to vote.”
There was some drama on the House floor as members voted. Jacksonville Democratic Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon used a bullhorn, shouting her opposition. It was reminiscent of the protest she participated in on the House floor in 2022 as the chamber approved DeSantis’ redrawing of Florida’s congressional districts.
Following the House vote, Florida Democratic House Leader Fentrice Driskell released a statement contending that due to the “unfair amount of time given to debate” the map, the House Democratic Caucus would exercise their ability under House rules to provided written vote explanations, which can be found here.
A majority of Floridians have said in public opinion surveys that they don’t support the redistricting effort. A poll taken by Emerson College earlier this month showed that 56% of respondents said it was a bad idea, while 44% supported it. Among independents, 65% opposed redistricting.
Voting rights groups have promised to challenge the new map in the courts.
by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].
