The Republican Party is looking to redistrict Florida next, after Virginia’s new congressional map, which gives Democrats a 10-1 advantage in the House, passed in a statewide referendum on Tuesday.
The election results mark a devastating loss for Republicans, who are set on increasing their numbers elsewhere to make up for it.
Florida’s four-day special legislative session on redistricting is set to begin April 28, exactly one week after the referendum in Virginia. The session was originally scheduled for April 20, but Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) pushed back the start date to revive stalled legislation on vaccine mandate exemptions and artificial intelligence regulation.
The state’s new congressional map could result in up to five new Republican-leaning seats, according to the New York Times. Florida boasts the nation’s third-largest House delegation behind California and Texas, with 28 seats. Of those, 20 seats are already held by Republicans. No proposed maps have been made public yet.
Florida’s constitution includes strict anti-gerrymandering provisions, which could add difficulties to redrawing the map in favor of Republicans.
After the redistricting referendum in Virginia, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) argued that the GOP plan for partisan gerrymandering in the Sunshine State is illegal and issued a warning if it moves forward next week.
“If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas,” Jeffries said in a statement. “We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills and Brian Mast. We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win.”
“Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time,” he vowed.
DeSantis has not made a direct statement on Virginia’s Tuesday night election results.
All eyes are now shifting toward Florida as the mid-decade redistricting battle between Republicans and Democrats continues into the midterm election cycle.
VIRGINIA VOTERS APPROVE HIGH-STAKES REDISTRICTING REFERENDUM
The special legislative session is expected to proceed after the Florida Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit attempting to challenge the redistricting process. The court has six of seven justices appointed by the Republican governor.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Supreme Court could weigh in on the Democrat-favoring ballot measure’s legality after the election. The ballot language could be in question. Virginia GOP Chairman Jeff Ryer called the ballot’s wording “blatantly dishonest.” The ballot says the new congressional map would “restore fairness in the upcoming elections,” without specifying to voters exactly what that means.