Senior Republicans in Washington are ramping up the pressure on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to redraw his state’s US House map after Virginia Democrats flipped potentially four seats in their favor.
With simply six months till the midterms, Republicans see Florida as their final main likelihood to make good points in the redistricting conflict President Donald Trump launched last summer. They hope to choose up as many as three seats in the Sunshine State, which might give Republicans again their slight benefit from redistricting, although a lot smaller than they’d as soon as hoped. With Tuesday’s referendum passing in Virginia, Democrats are estimated to have drawn 10 seats in their favor nationwide in contrast to the Republicans’ 9.
“Florida has the right and the intention to do it. And my view is that they should,” Speaker Mike Johnson instructed reporters on Wednesday. Asked if the Florida legislators ought to redraw the state’s maps earlier than the midterms, Johnson stated: “Yes, absolutely.”
A particular session to contemplate redistricting in Florida is slated to begin Tuesday, however no map has been publicly launched. A DeSantis spokesperson didn’t reply to a NCS inquiry about its standing.
Key Republicans concerned in redistricting say they’ve been stored largely in the darkish on DeSantis’ plans. There’s no coordination on the state stage due to strict state guidelines round partisan gerrymandering, and no maps have been formally circulated inside Florida’s congressional delegation both.
“They’re just kind of firing up the software now and seeing what they can draw, but it doesn’t seem like anyone has a plan,” somebody shut to DeSantis’ interior circle instructed NCS earlier this week. “They know they have to do something, but everyone is hoping we don’t get too greedy.”
Rep. Kat Cammack instructed NCS she is raring to see Florida Republicans redraw their maps and believes the GOP might choose up two or three seats and nonetheless “maintain compactness and fairness.”
But she additionally warned her celebration not to go too far: “I think that we get into some dangerous territory if we’re seriously considering five.”
Cammack is considered one of eight Florida Republicans that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries particularly pledged to “aggressively target for defeat” if the state GOP advances a brand new map. (To that menace, she responded: “Bring it on.”)
Not all Republicans are on board. Some members of Florida’s congressional delegation – notably these in the southern half of the state – are more and more anxious about creating a possible new map so late in the yr. Some merely dislike the thought of being compelled into a brand new district; others are nervous that they or their colleagues might have their reelection bids put in hazard, in accordance to a number of Republicans briefed on the trouble.
GOP Rep. Laurel Lee, who as soon as served as DeSantis’ secretary of state and now represents a Tampa-area district, was cautious when requested whether or not Florida ought to transfer forward based mostly on Virginia’s election outcomes.
“I am sure that the legislature will make an independent decision about what they think is appropriate, separate from what some of the other states have decided to do,” Lee stated.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna famous in a current interview with NCS {that a} new map for the 2026 election would mark the third time in 4 elections that the contours of the district she’s operating in have modified.
“Please, guys, c’mon,” Luna stated jokingly. “Not again. I’m having commitment issues.”
Jeffries taunted the governor on Wednesday, suggesting any Florida redraw would change into a “DeSantis dummy-mander.”
At a invoice signing Wednesday in Jacksonville, DeSantis didn’t deal with his plans for a brand new map however blasted Jeffries over his vow to knock off GOP House members this November.
“Please be my guest,” DeSantis stated. “I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We’ll take you fishing.”
“There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries everywhere around this state,” he added. “Voters will not like what they see.”
Longstanding tensions with DeSantis
Many GOP lawmakers and operatives agree that Florida can safely choose up two seats – three at a most – with out risking a so-called “dummy-mander” that endangers incumbents. But it’s unclear what DeSantis or the state legislature plan to do.
Concerns from Florida’s congressional delegation are unlikely to carry a lot weight with DeSantis.
The Florida governor has lengthy had a strained relationship with the state’s Republican House members – even throughout his personal time in the US House – and issues deteriorated sharply in 2023 when DeSantis launched his presidential bid.
Many in the delegation backed Trump as a substitute, generally in ways in which appeared to maximize embarrassment to their home-state governor. Some timed their endorsement to coincide with DeSantis’ marketing campaign rollout whereas others traveled to Iowa to stump for Trump and sow doubt in the minds of caucus-goers about DeSantis’ governing report.
DeSantis is understood amongst allies and adversaries alike for holding grudges – and he has not moved previous these perceived slights, in accordance to a number of individuals accustomed to his considering.
The Virginia redistricting outcome has additionally spurred a recent spherical of questions on Capitol Hill about whether or not Republicans’ preliminary efforts to redraw Texas’ maps final yr have finally backfired.
Asked whether or not it was price it for Republicans to start the gerrymandering struggle in Texas, GOP marketing campaign chief Rep. Richard Hudson instructed NCS: “That’s not up to me to decide.”
Other Republicans who’ve been lengthy vital of the celebration’s redistricting push have grown extra vocal for the reason that Virginia outcomes. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a Pennsylvania swing district, argued that Republicans ought to by no means have “gone down this path at all.”
“I thought Texas was a bad idea; California was a bad idea. We should be trying to balance every district in America, not gerrymandering every district in America. It’s a race to the bottom,” he stated.
National Republicans, although, argued that they’d no selection however to attempt for each potential benefit in a midterm cycle that’s sometimes brutal for the celebration in energy.
“If Republicans had not gone on offense, we would be down five or more seats. I’m confident of that at this point,” Adam Kincaid, government director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, instructed NCS on Wednesday. “Between going on offense and drawing more favorable maps and being more aggressive in defending the maps that were being litigated, we have come out ahead of where we would have been otherwise.”
Kincaid and James Blair, a prime Trump political aide, each stated they anticipated DeSantis to craft a map that can stand up to scrutiny.
“Ron DeSantis has drawn maps before,” Blair instructed NCS’s Dana Bash on Wednesday. “If he chooses to go forward, he will draw them in a way that’s compliant with the law.”