Gov. Ron DeSantis presented a Congressional reapportionment map to the Legislature that appears likely to give Republicans a 24-4 advantage in the Florida Delegation if approved this week during Special Session.
But he says that just because it could create a 20 seat advantage for his party, it doesn’t mean it is a response to partisan redistricting processes in Blue States, and it’s “really independent of Virginia or any of these other things.”
Virginia recently created a map that gives Democrats a 10-1 advantage, while California’s new map could give Democrats five more seats in the state’s delegation, stretching what is already a +35 edge (42-7).
But DeSantis says Florida’s effort is about fairness.
“We are also in a situation in Florida. We’ve had a massive population boom. So we have congressional districts, you know, we have District 14, for example, had about 100,000 votes less than District 12, right? You know, next to it. Because we’ve had growth in certain parts of the state. So I’ve always wanted to do this. I think the numbers justify it,” DeSantis said on “The Ingraham Angle” Monday.
He also argued that the proposed map eliminates a racially gerrymandered South Florida district, continuing work that he started in 2022 when he vetoed a map that would have created a minority-access district in Duval County.
The aggressive map suggests the DeSantis administration doesn’t put any stock into warnings that in what could be a wave election for Democrats, Republican holds could be endangered.
Former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove spoke of a “risk” in the strategy last week, and he wasn’t alone in his worries. Incumbent U.S. Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez, Greg Steube and Daniel Webster also fear that their safe seats could be in play.
Republican consultant Alex Alvarado wrote in an analysis for the Civic Data and Research Institute that, according to modeling, aggressive redistricting would raise the number of competitive seats from four to seven but wouldn’t give Republicans any net gain.
DeSantis had previously pinned the need for a Special Session on an impending SCOTUS ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which DeSantis believes will invalidate minority-access districts. But that ruling has not been rendered.
During Monday’s interview, DeSantis also taunted U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who warned last week that Florida Republicans were poised to “f— around and find out” if they passed a new map.
“We’ll take him around the state. Nothing would be better for Florida Republicans than for voters in Florida to see Hakeem Jeffries as the alternative. And so I would welcome his presence in Florida, and I know it would benefit our Republicans,” DeSantis said.
Jeffries says the proposed map is “blatantly illegal and political malpractice.”
“Floridians overwhelmingly passed a Fair Districts Amendment in 2010, explicitly barring partisan gerrymandering. By nakedly targeting communities of color to intentionally dilute their voting strength, the DeSantis Dummymander also clearly violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” he said Monday.
DeSantis argues that the Fair Districts Amendment, passed by Florida voters in 2010, violates the United States Constitution’s equal protection clause.
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