DeSantis Gets Aggressive With Congressional District Map, Aiming To Add Four GOP Seats: Report

Governor Ron DeSantis has reportedly finalized his proposal to redraw Florida’s congressional districts, aiming to create four additional GOP-friendly seats in his state. There are legal challenges — as in Virginia — which could see the proposed maps blocked, however. Mr. DeSantis won a great deal of praise from Republican allies ahead of the 2022 midterms when he gerrymandered the state to give his party four new seats. At the time, it was seen as a feather in his cap before he launched his presidential campaign in 2023. The governor — who has said he would consider another run for the White House in the future — is trying to counteract Democrats’ gerrymander in Virginia. The Virginia maps, which were approved by voters last week, came in response to President Trump’s demand that GOP-led states redraw congressional lines to give him additional seats headed into the 2026 midterms. “Florida got shortchanged in the 2020 Census, and we’ve been fighting for fair representation ever since,” Mr. DeSantis told Fox News Digital, which first reported on the new maps. “Our population has since grown dramatically, and we have moved from a Democrat majority to a 1.5 million Republican advantage. Drawing maps based on race, which is reflected in our current congressional districts, is unconstitutional and should be prohibited.”The map proposal unveiled Monday would turn four Democratic seats into seats which were won by Mr. Trump in 2024. The state has already been gerrymandered, however, with 20 Republicans representing the state in the House compared to just eight Democrats. Mr. DeSantis’s proposal would bring that margin to 24 Republicans and four Democrats. The Democrats most likely to lose their seats under this proposal are Congressman Darren Soto of central Florida and Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Tampa. The map scrambles the district lines of several south Florida seats, leaving just three districts won by Vice President Kamala Harris. Currently there are five Democrats in the House from the area in and around Miami. It is unclear which of those lawmakers would retire, run in a primary against a colleague in one of the three deep-blue districts, or face off against a GOP challenger in one of the new Trump-won districts. As of Monday, there is no partisan composition data available about just how red or blue the new districts would be.The biggest concern of some Republicans — especially those from heavily Hispanic areas of south Florida — is that this could end up becoming what is known as a “dummymander,” which is when a party stretches its supporters too thinly over several districts in an attempt to flip them only to end up losing seats. The dummymander possibility in Texas may also become a reality due to Hispanic voters moving away from the GOP in recent elections. “Our message for Florida Republicans is: F around and find out. If they go down the road of a DeSantis dummymander, the Florida Republicans are gonna find themselves in the same situation as Texas Republicans who are on the run,” the House minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, told reporters after Virginia approved its new congressional district lines. “They started this war, and we’re gonna finish it.” In a statement, he said Democrats would campaign hard against all Florida House Republicans who see their districts get less red as Mr. DeSantis tries to redraw his district lines. The big legal hurdle for Mr. DeSantis is the Florida state constitution, which explicitly bars partisan gerrymandering in the state. That constitutional amendment has been in effect for more than 15 years.

DeSantis Gets Aggressive With Congressional District Map, Aiming To Add Four GOP Seats: Report

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