Last week, my Republican colleagues passed a new congressional map for Florida. Not because it was time to draw new maps, or because there was anything legally wrong with the old maps, but because Donald Trump demanded a map that makes it easier for Republicans to win elections in November.
In Florida, drawing maps to give an advantage to one party is illegal — because 16 years ago, Floridian voters decided that nobody should try to rig the process for their own gain.
So, with less than a day’s notice and virtually no legislators speaking in favor, Florida Republicans passed a map that they know full well violates the Fair Districts Amendment of the Florida Constitution.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent months offering up excuse after excuse for why these maps needed to be redrawn. First, he argued that Florida was going through extreme population growth, but the data shows that Florida has been experiencing the same growth every decade since the 80s.
Then, he argued that Florida was shortchanged in the 2020 Census. That argument doesn’t hold water either — the new map can’t give Florida any more seats in Congress. Even if it could, Florida was only shortchanged because DeSantis largely refused to cooperate with Trump’s Census Bureau.
The justification he finally settled on was the U.S. Supreme Court’s then-upcoming decision in Louisiana v. Callais. He claimed with no proof that the decision was going to strike down the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and by extension, Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment.
The Governor sent his lawyer to argue that because of what he expected the Supreme Court to rule in Callais, we no longer have to respect the Florida Constitution’s ban against partisan gerrymandering. His mapmaker then admitted to using partisan data in the construction of the new map, which he rushed through in just two weeks.
The Florida Legislature met on April 28, 2026, for a four-day Special Session to discuss a new redistricting map from DeSantis. The current map is on the left, the proposed map is on the right.
DeSantis was wrong. The Callais decision was issued in the middle of our floor debate on this illegally gerrymandered map, and it didn’t strike down the Voting Rights Act — it only narrowed its scope. Both the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Districts Amendment remain the law of the land.
So, with all of the Governor’s excuses debunked, we’re left with an obvious explanation: DeSantis illegally rigged our maps for partisan gain to curry favor with Donald Trump. No other explanation holds water.
As an elected official, I swore an oath to the Florida Constitution. Until a court says that a piece of language in that Constitution is invalid, my colleagues and I have a sworn responsibility to uphold and defend it. It would be irresponsible and undemocratic to pretend that anything in that Constitution can simply be ignored.
For me, that meant voting “no” and speaking out against this illegal partisan gerrymander of Florida’s congressional districts. I’m proud of Senate and House Democrats for putting up a fight in a process that was rigged to give more power to Republicans. The entire process was an insult to the voters who elected us.
The Legislature needs to get its priorities straight. We’ve done nothing to address the affordability crisis facing Floridians, despite Senate and House Democrats proposing an affordability Agenda last November — a suite of bills designed to bring relief to struggling families.
DeSantis’ illegal maps may be drawn, passed, and signed, but it’s not too late to stop chasing a partisan political agenda and resume the fight for a more affordable Florida. Floridians deserve nothing less.
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Sen. Lori Berman represents SD 26 and serves as Democratic Leader in the Florida Senate.
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