Florida‘s Senate passed a congressional redistricting plan on Wednesday championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, setting the stage for the Sunshine State to gain legally binding congressional lines.
The plan passed on a party-line basis, 24–15, and now heads to the state House for a vote. If the map goes into effect, Republicans could gain four congressional seats, wiping out most of the gains Democrats procured during the redistricting cycle.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE SURRENDERS TO DESANTIS ON REDISTRICTING
“Our intention is to provide the Governor’s Office opportunities to present that information before House and Senate redistricting committees,” state Senate President Wilton Simpson and state House Speaker Chris Sprowls said in a joint statement last week.
The new map that cleared the Senate is expected to boost Republicans’ current 16-11 congressional advantage to 20–8. In other words, Republicans would likely own roughly 71% of the state’s congressional seats in a state where former President Donald Trump won with 51.2% of the vote in 2020. Florida gained a seat during the most recent census.
Republicans in Florida had been ensnared in an intraparty melee over redistricting for months. But that fight came to an apparent end last week when Republicans ceded the map-drawing responsibility to DeSantis, vowing to pass a map that he would support.
In March, DeSantis vetoed a map that was sent him, citing concerns it preserved a racially gerrymandered district unfavorable to the GOP. Following his veto, lawmakers agreed to hold a special session from April 19-22 to address the matter.
Democrats, such as lawyer Marc Elias and state lawmakers, have already signaled their intent to file a legal challenge against the map if it becomes law.
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Alongside Missouri and New Hampshire, Florida is one of three states that does not have a legally binding congressional map. Primary elections are slated to take place on Aug. 23. Nearly a dozen states have legal challenges against their congressional maps pending.
In addition to considering the congressional redistricting map, the Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would end the Walt Disney World resort’s de facto self-government status in the state. That bill will also head to the state House for consideration.
