The Florida Legislature on Wednesday authorised a new congressional map intended to maximize Republicans’ benefit in the state as a part of the nationwide redistricting battle that President Donald Trump launched forward of this 12 months’s midterms.
The vote got here simply two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his proposal and the identical day that the US Supreme Court rolled back a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. The choice may make it tougher for Democrats to problem Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts in ways in which restrict the affect of nonwhite voters.
DeSantis’ map may improve Republicans’ benefit in Florida’s House delegation to 24 to 4, up from the present break up of 20 to 8. The potential four-seat achieve is identical as what Virginia Democrats expect from a recent redistricting referendum, which is being challenged in state courtroom there.
Florida’s new map is definite to face lawsuits as effectively, particularly as a result of the state structure prohibits redistricting for explicitly partisan functions. DeSantis and his aides consider these provisions is not going to be a authorized barrier as a result of they’ve been weakened beforehand by the Florida Supreme Court and once more by Wednesday’s US Supreme Court ruling.
Florida Republicans, snug in their supermajority in each legislative chambers, stated little in regards to the new districts throughout the whirlwind particular session. The measure’s sponsor, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, Republican of Fort Myers, restricted her remarks to cautious solutions about an “evolving legal landscape” as Democrats requested her in regards to the redistricting effort.
“I believe that there is a likelihood that that map will be upheld against legal challenge,” Persons-Mulicka stated.
Democrats decried it as a partisan energy play to fulfill Trump and harm nearly all of registered Florida voters who aren’t Republicans.
“Y’all are doing this because y’all’s daddy in the White House is injecting national political objectives into what should be a state-driven process,” Rep. Michele Rayner, Democrat of St. Petersburg, instructed her Republican colleagues.