Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he plans to call a special session in April for the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature to draw new congressional districts, adding to a broader mid-decade redistricting campaign by multiple states.
DeSantis said he wants to wait for a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could affect the constitutional scope of a provision of the Voting Rights Act. He pointed to the court’s case Louisiana v. Callais, saying it could determine whether Section 2—part of the Voting Rights Act that bars discrimination in voting systems—is constitutional.
Speaking at a news conference in Steinhatchee, Florida, DeSantis said he expected the Supreme Court to rule and framed the main uncertainty as how broad the ruling’s impact would be. “I don’t think it’s a question of if they’re going to rule. It’s a question of what the scope is going to be,” he said, adding that officials were getting “out ahead of that.” He also said he expects “at least one or two” Florida districts could be affected by the ruling.
DeSantis made the comments even though Florida’s 2026 legislative session is set to start next week. He said he wanted to wait for the high court before the Legislature redraws the congressional map.
Currently, 20 of Florida’s 28 congressional seats are held by Republicans. The map changes DeSantis seeks could carry consequences for President Donald Trump’s plan to reshape congressional districts in GOP-led states, a strategy that supporters say could help Republicans win additional seats in the midterms and retain control of the closely divided U.S. House.
The AP report noted that nationwide, mid-decade redistricting has produced a total of nine more seats Republicans believe they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, while Democrats expect to win six more seats in California and Utah—leaving Republicans up by three in that tally. The report also said that the new maps are being litigated in some states and that, if the maps remain in place for 2026, election outcomes would still depend on legal challenges.
Florida already has voter-backed limits on partisan gerrymandering. In 2010, more than 60% of voters approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting district boundary lines from being drawn to unfairly favor one political party. The Florida Supreme Court last July upheld a congressional map pushed by DeSantis that critics said violated the “Fair Districts” amendment.
After the Florida Supreme Court ruling, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez announced in August the creation of a select committee to examine the state’s congressional map. In response to DeSantis’ call for another round of redistricting, Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman said in a statement that what DeSantis wants the Legislature to do is clearly illegal.
Berman argued that the Fair Districts amendment “strictly prohibits any maps from being drawn for partisan reasons,” and said the redistricting conversation is driven by national political demands. “The only reason we’re having this unprecedented conversation about drawing new maps is because Donald Trump demanded it,” she said, adding that the redistricting process is meant to serve people rather than politicians.
The Florida Democratic Party also criticized DeSantis’ move, saying it was “reckless, partisan and opportunistic.” In its statement, the party said the proposal is “nothing more than a desperate attempt to rig the system and silence voters before the 2026 election,” and argued that DeSantis was seeking to take advantage of expected Supreme Court changes affecting the Voting Rights Act.
Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, said Florida already has a relatively strong Republican gerrymander. He said Republicans would likely find it difficult to pick up additional seats unless they were willing to draw “noncompact districts that squiggle all over the place” and then hold the election before a judge could throw out the map.
McDonald also said DeSantis could be trying to shore up Republican strongholds to mitigate the losses the party in power often faces in midterm elections. He said Trump’s approval ratings are “pretty low,” and that, barring major political changes, Democrats are expected to have “a very good year” in November.