Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has signed Florida’s new congressional map into law that could net Republicans four new seats in the state’s congressional delegation.
“Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis wrote on X with the new congressional map underneath.
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DeSantis championed the Sunshine State’s redistricting push after Virginia voted to redraw its map in favor of Democrats, calling a special legislative session to vote on the matter. The Florida state legislature passed the maps through the state House and Senate on Wednesday after the Supreme Court released its decision striking down race-based redistricting in Louisiana.
The map would give Republicans a 24-4 advantage in the state if it goes unchallenged in court. The state’s current congressional delegation has 20 Republicans and seven Democrats, with one vacancy after former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) resigned over a campaign finance violations scandal.
The new map would likely take out Democrats’ only seat in the Tampa area, diminish their hold in the Miami area, and take out a Democratic seat in the Orlando area. The four representatives at risk of losing their seats are Reps. Darren Soto (D-FL), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
As Democrats threaten to sue over the new map, DeSantis is pointing to the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais to justify new districts in the Republican-drawn map.
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE PASSES DESANTIS’S REDISTRICTED MAP IN HOPES OF ADDING FOUR GOP HOUSE SEATS
“The decision implicates a district in FL — the legal infirmities of which have been corrected in the newly-drawn (and soon to be enacted) map,” DeSantis had written on X last week.
Even if any voting groups challenge the map in court, they face tough odds, the Orlando Sentinel reports. DeSantis appointed six of the seven justices on the Florida Supreme Court, which would hold the ultimate jurisdiction over any state lawsuits.