Florida Moves Toward Joining National Redistricting Push

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — The nation’s redistricting war is now officially coming to Florida.

Citing a recent court ruling on the state’s congressional map, state House Speaker Daniel Perez said Thursday he’s creating a select committee to look at drawing up new districts seven years ahead of the normal 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 explained in a memo sent out to House members.

Florida’s decision to enter the fray over redistricting comes amid a political donnybrook sweeping the nation from New York to Texas, Indiana and California. The White House has pressured Republicans in Texas to enact a new congressional map that would generate up to five new GOP seats in that state. Texas Democrats this week left their state to avoid a quorum and halt the state Legislature’s business.

Republicans already hold a commanding 20-8 congressional delegation margin in Florida thanks to a map muscled into law three years ago by Gov. Ron DeSantis that flipped four seats. The GOP also has a supermajority in the Florida Legislature, and there are not enough Democrats to block lawmakers from passing a new map. DeSantis has to sign off on any changes to the congressional map, but he has already said he is open to redrawing the districts after the Florida Supreme Court upheld the current map.

DeSantis has also called the last census — conducted largely under President Donald Trump — “flawed” and said it should be redone. Trump said in a social media post Thursday that he was ordering a mid-decade census that would not count anyone in the country illegally.

But it appears the Florida Legislature isn’t going to wait for new numbers that could potentially garner extra seats.

Perez, a Miami Republican, said the select committee would focus exclusively on a new congressional map and would not draw up new maps for the Legislature. He did not lay out an exact timeline for action, but the Legislature is already planning to hold committee meetings this fall ahead of its next regular session in January.

A spokesperson for state Senate President Ben Albritton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A new map, depending on how it is drawn, could take aim at the state's remaining Democrats in south Florida such as Reps. Jared Moskowitz or Debbie Wasserman Schultz, or Kathy Castor in the Tampa Bay area.

Democrats, who have already blasted DeSantis over his calls for a mid-decade map overhaul, reacted furiously to the announcement.

“This is corruption, plain and simple,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Drawing district maps is supposed to happen once a decade, after a federal census. 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. This is not normal. Redistricting will cost Floridians millions of taxpayer dollars. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Florida voters in 2010 adopted the “Fair Districts” standards that prohibits the Legislature from drawing districts for partisan gain or to help incumbents. That same constitutional amendment also said that districts could not be drawn in a way that “diminish” the ability of minorities to “elect representatives of their choice.”

The 2022 map pushed through by DeSantis dismantled a North Florida congressional seat held by former Rep. Al Lawson. Several groups sued over the map and a circuit court judge called it unconstitutional and ordered legislators to redraw it.

But the state’s high court — which has been remade by DeSantis appointees — concluded last month that Lawson’s old district was likely an illegal race-based gerrymander that violates equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution. A majority of justices ruled that legislators had a “superior” obligation to follow federal law.

In his memo, Perez said the ruling “raises important and distinct questions about the applicability and interpretation of certain provisions of the so-called “Fair Districts” provisions of the Florida Constitution and their intersection with federal law.”

If lawmakers do push ahead with a map, they would still have to follow “Fair Districts” standards that bar new districts designed solely for partisan gain.

Perez said he would not appoint anyone to the select committee who had “expressed an interest in running for Congress. In addition, while as elected members of the House you are free to express your own opinions, statements about redistricting that suggest an intent to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party, which is currently prohibited by the Florida Constitution, will also disqualify you from consideration.”