Florida’s newly drawn congressional map, which has not yet been signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, has already resulted at least one lawsuit but is likely to be in place for the state’s August primaries and November general elections.
The Florida Senate on Wednesday, and House on Thursday, approved DeSantis’ proposed state congressional district map after three months of contention among Republican leaders over how to reapportion the state’s 27 districts into 28 newly configured districts.
On Friday, as expected, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Equal Ground Education Fund, Florida Rising Together, and several individual Florida voters filed a lawsuit in state court in Tallahassee challenging the new congressional map as “a naked attempt by Gov. DeSantis to rig congressional elections in favor of his own party.”
Until Thursday, Florida, New Hampshire, and Missouri were the only three states that had not adopted post-2020 Census district maps.
Once DeSantis signs the map 425 of the 435 seats in the United States Congress will be reapportioned for 2022 elections.
According to analyses by FiveThirtyEight and MCI Maps, the governor’s map creates 20 congressional districts where Republican Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential Election and eight that voted for Democrat Joe Biden.
“This has about as big of a Republican bias that Florida’s congressional map could have — and darn close to the most egregiously partisan map in the country,” FiveThirtyEight senior elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich wrote. “This map will significantly shake up Florida’s congressional delegation, as it virtually guarantees that Democrats will lose three of their House seats in Florida.”
Republicans now hold a 16-11 Florida congressional delegation advantage. Under the new map, the 28-member delegation breaks down anywhere from a 17-11 to a 20-8 GOP advantage.
But the new map will have impacts beyond the Sunshine State.
By John Haughey
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