The Republican-controlled Florida legislature decided Thursday to start the process for redrawing the state’s congressional map to pick up more House seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections following Texas’s recent redistricting efforts.
State House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican, told lawmakers he is creating a select committee to consider drawing new districts seven years ahead of schedule.
“Exploring these questions now, at the mid-decade point, would potentially allow us to seek legal guidance from our Supreme Court without the uncertainty associated with deferring those questions until after the next decennial census and reapportionment,” Perez wrote in a memo.
Florida Republicans already outnumber Democrats, currently holding 20 of 28 seats in their House delegation. The Sunshine State’s congressional map was last redrawn in 2022, when four seats flipped red.
Perez’s announcement comes one month after the Florida Supreme Court upheld the current congressional map. The ruling was considered a win for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who played an instrumental role in helping Republicans flip House seats three years ago. DeSantis has said he remains open to redrawing the districts again before next year’s midterm elections.
Florida Democrats condemned the state House speaker’s decision, calling it “corruption.”
“Drawing district maps is supposed to happen once a decade, after a federal census,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said.
“Floridians are watching their home insurance rates skyrocket, their rents go up, and their public schools crumble, but instead of fixing any of it, Florida Republicans are too busy with voter suppression schemes in the middle of the decade to protect Trump,” she added. “This is not normal. Redistricting will cost Floridians millions of taxpayer dollars. We cannot allow this to happen.”
Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump said he ordered the Commerce Department to begin conducting a mid-decade census that doesn’t count immigrants illegally residing in the United States. The census is typically conducted every 10 years; the last one was conducted in 2020.
DeSantis previously called the 2020 census “flawed,” claiming it undercounted Florida and cost the state an additional House seat. Florida gained one congressional seat in 2020.
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Florida joins Texas in the mid-decade redistricting push, which has sparked intense backlash from Democrats nationwide.
The Lone Star State has seen its House Democratic caucus break quorum and flee to other states as a form of protest against Republicans’ plans. The Texas saga is quickly escalating as the FBI prepares to locate and arrest at least 50 Democrats for missing official business. They have until Friday to return to the Texas Capitol, per a deadline set by the Republican Texas House speaker.