Florida Legislature approves DeSantis' US House map expanding GOP advantage

The Florida Legislature has scrapped the state's congressional map, which already gives Republicans 20 of Florida’s 28 U.S. House seats.

On Wednesday, GOP lawmakers passed a map created by Gov. Ron DeSantis' office eliminating four more Democratic-leaning seats, which has huge nationwide implications.

It drew loud Democratic opposition — especially loud when Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, took out a bullhorn during the House's final vote.

"This is a violation of the Constitution," yelled Nixon, who is running for U.S. Senate.

Four Republicans in the Senate also voted no.

That wasn't the only drama on Wednesday. As both chambers considered the proposal, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision on a case critical to mapmaking.

The ruling had been long-awaited by DeSantis, who even cited it as a reason to redistrict. The Senate paused its meeting to review the decision, though the House plowed ahead.

The case centered on when states may rely on race when drawing congressional districts and involved a challenged Louisiana majority-Black seat. The conservative-majority court said that district was "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander" and narrowed how states may use race when drawing maps under the Voting Rights Act.

But the justices stopped short of striking down that part of the law.

Still, DeSantis jumped at the ruling: "Called this one months ago," he wrote on social media.

He argues the to-be-replaced map has some districts that were drawn with racial considerations in mind. This new map, his office maintains, "does not take race into consideration at all."

Democrats pushed back on DeSantis' argument, citing how that Voting Rights Act section wasn't thrown out. And they pointed to the "Fair Districts" amendments Florida voters approved in 2010. It prevents districts from being drawn with "the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent."

DeSantis argues the amendment is moot because he believes a different part of it is unconstitutional — the section saying districts can't be drawn in ways that weaken minority voters’ ability to participate politically or elect candidates of their choice.

"There was no severability provision included in the ["Fair Districts" amendments] when it was presented to the voters," his office wrote in a memo to lawmakers. "And because one part is unconstitutional, there's little reason to think that voters would have approved the remaining parts by themselves."

Answering questions from lawmakers on Tuesday, Jason Poreda, who made the governor's map, even admitted he used partisan data as one factor.

Democrats repeatedly brought up that comment on Wednesday as they called the redistricting effort illegal.

"We feel very comfortable that this map was clearly an illegal partisan gerrymander," said Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman of Delray Beach.

Republicans were largely silent on Wednesday, aside from the pair sponsoring the redistricting proposal in the Legislature: Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers.

"In the state of Florida, we have an evolving legal landscape, and we have evidence that the Florida Supreme Court will recede from precedents," Persons-Mulicka said, referring to how the state Supreme Court upheld the current map that was approved in 2022, despite its legal controversies. "I believe that this map is based on a strong and viable interpretation of both the Florida and the United States constitutions."

Gaetz said he did not believe the proposal was drawn with “any more partisan domination than any maps that we’ve seen in the past.”

But there was no chatter about redistricting in Florida until after President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to add five GOP-leaning seats, sparking a multi-state fight for control of the U.S. House.

Gaetz and Persons-Mulicka were able to sidestep a number of Democrats' questions and criticisms, pointing to how it was the governor's office that made the map, not the Legislature.

Historically, the Legislature leads the mapmaking with an open process. But DeSantis' office crafted this behind closed doors and sent it to Fox News before sending it to lawmakers.

DeSantis still needs to sign the map before it's official.

Lawsuits are expected once he does.

And even if the map survives the courts, there's always a chance of "dummymandering," with Democrats picking up GOP-leaning seats if they overperform.

Another thing to watch: Gaetz broke with the governor on whether the entirety of Florida’s "Fair Districts" amendments should be thrown out.

“I still believe everything else ... ought to stand and should stand and does stand,” he said. “I will do everything I can to keep all of those provisions in law, whether or not my own party agrees with me.”

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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting