Florida’s legislature approved a new congressional map on April 29 aimed at maximizing Republicans’ advantage in the state as the broader redistricting fight intensifies ahead of this year’s midterm elections, according to an Associated Press report from Tallahassee.
The vote took place two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his proposal and on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Democrats warned that the Supreme Court’s action could make it harder for them to challenge Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts in ways they say limit the influence of nonwhite voters.
Supporters said DeSantis’ plan would increase Republicans’ advantage in Florida’s House delegation to 24 to 4, up from the current split of 20 to 8. The AP report also said opponents expect lawsuits, noting that Florida’s constitution prohibits redistricting for explicitly partisan purposes and that DeSantis and his aides believe that restriction will not block the map’s survival after prior weakening by courts.
In the Florida House, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, sponsored the measure and fielded questions as the legislature moved through a whirlwind special session. Persons-Mulicka limited her remarks, including in response to Democrats, to answers framed around an “evolving legal landscape,” saying she believed “there is a likelihood that that map will be upheld against legal challenge.”
Democrats, activists and some citizens criticized the fast-moving effort as a partisan power play tied to national objectives and to state-level political ambitions. Rep. Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, told colleagues before the House vote that Republicans were injecting White House goals into what she said should be a state process, and the AP report described her comments delivered ahead of an 83-28 vote in favor of the measure. The Florida Senate later approved the plan 21-17, according to the report.
The map also drew direct attention to changes in metropolitan areas. The proposal would reshape districts in Democratic strongholds around Orlando, the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and in south Florida, including near Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the AP report said. It noted that the changes could jeopardize seats held by Republicans’ Democratic targets, including Rep. Jared Moskowitz and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and described how one nearly majority Black south Florida district would effectively be eliminated after the resignation earlier this month of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
Before lawmakers voted, Republican leaders advanced the package quickly after the session opened Tuesday morning, according to the AP report. In one of just two committee hearings, Senate Rules Chair Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, told speakers each would have 30 seconds and said she wanted “everybody who has taken the time and effort to come to Capitol to have an opportunity to speak,” while also adding that the time limit was “if you’re concise.” The report said citizen speakers expressed opposition, including testimony from Deborah Courtney, who asked why the redistricting process was being done immediately, and from Rob Woods, who warned that the changes could push the state “back in that period of Reconstruction, moving back to Jim Crow.”
On the House floor, Persons-Mulicka repeatedly characterized the map as “race-neutral,” and the AP report said she cited testimony from DeSantis aide Jason Poreda, who the report said took sole credit for the map and did not disclose the names of any architects. The report also said questions about what Poreda examined—such as party affiliation and voting patterns—were met with deflection, including Persons-Mulicka’s statement that she could not discuss the “intent of the map drawer.”
DeSantis unveiled the plan on Fox News, the AP report said, and it described how Persons-Mulicka and Sen. Don Gaetz, the Senate sponsor, responded to questions about the governor’s involvement and timing. Gaetz confirmed he had no part in drafting the map and said he forwarded DeSantis’ proposal to other senators after receiving it late Monday morning, according to the report.
The AP report said the outcome of redistricting efforts nationwide is not guaranteed to match what each party expects, citing how other states have reconfigured lines based on earlier political performance. It also noted that Florida Republicans faced political uncertainty, including concerns among some in their ranks that thinner margins in newly Republican-leaning districts could still leave openings for Democratic wins, particularly amid any anti-Trump backlash.
The session also produced other disputes in the legislature, the AP report said, including the governor’s proposals related to artificial intelligence rules for students and school vaccine mandates. It described House Speaker Daniel Perez as spiking both ideas and quoting DeSantis describing the move as “political shenanigans,” while including a response from House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell that Republicans still aligned with DeSantis on the “big-ticket item” of redistricting.