Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed legislation (HB 1D ) into law Monday making his newly designed congressional redistricting map official in Florida.
“Signed, sealed, delivered,” was the succinct message he posted on X with a map of the 28 newly drawn districts, which Democrats and voting rights groups allege is illegal because it violates the provision of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments that bans partisan gerrymandering.
The map could grow Florida’s Republican representation in the U.S. House of Representatives by three and possibly four seats. That’s what the governor certainly believes, since his office sent a color-code map of Florida painted red with four blue spots denoting Democratic seats to Fox News on April 27 morning, an hour before he sent it to state legislators.
The GOP-controlled Legislature approved the map on a mostly party-line vote Wednesday, with five Republicans — four in the Senate and one in the House — dissenting.
Now that the newly created congressional map is official, litigation was expected to follow. The Equal Ground Education Fund obliged later in the day, filing suit in state trial court in Leon County seeking to ban enforcement of the new map and reinstatement of the old one.
Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Action, praised the governor.
“In the wake of the Louisiana v. Callais decision, Governor DeSantis and the Legislature acted to ensure Florida’s map reflects population growth and real communities, not racial engineering for the sake of political manipulation,” he said in a written statement.
But House Democratic Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a blistering statement hours after DeSantis signed the map into law, saying “see you in court.”
“The lame-duck Governor of Florida is auditioning for Donald Trump’s undying love after his presidential aspirations were crushed in 2024,” Jeffries said in a written statement.
“Democrats have brutally thwarted the MAGA midterm power grab and we will continue to push back aggressively. Today, less than a week after corrupt Republican legislators approved an unconstitutional partisan map leaked to a right-wing news outlet, Ron DeSanctimonious signed it into law.
“By his own lawyer’s admission, these boundaries were drawn with partisan intent, a shameless disregard for Florida voters who overwhelmingly passed the Fair Districts Amendment to bar political favoritism and incumbent protection in 2010. Ron DeSantis knows this gerrymander is a direct violation of Florida law. “
Nikki Fried, Chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, issued the following statement:
“Today Ron DeSantis attempted to disenfranchise millions of Black, brown, and Jewish Floridians by stripping them of representation by signing illegal Congressional maps into law, Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, said in a written statement.
“This type of voter suppression is nothing new in Florida — from Jim Crow and the Ocoee massacre, to election police and the enactment of the most extreme voter suppression laws in the country since 2021, unfortunately Florida has always been a testing ground for conservative extremism. Florida Democrats will not back down. Ron DeSantis will pay for breaking the law and defying the will of Florida voters.”
Fall elections
With the configuration of several Democratic-held seats now changed, who will run in some of those seats is unclear. Several Democratic incumbents have shifted from districts that voted in support of Kamala Harris in 2024 to ones in which Donald Trump would have won. All of those Democrats say that they will run again for re-election this fall, although they have not indicated which districts those will be.
“We have been down this road before,” Orlando Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani said in a written statement.
“Courts have already made clear that dismantling Fair Districts and ignoring voter-approved standards is unacceptable. This fight is not over and we will continue to stand with our communities, challenge this map in court, and defend the fundamental right to fair representation in Florida.”
This story has been updated to include outside comment and the filing of a lawsuit against the governor’s map.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Contact Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
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