Florida's redistricting fight puts Ron DeSantis back in the Republican
spotlight
[April 28, 2026]
By BILL BARROW
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Ron DeSantis was once the future of the
Republican Party, a battle-tested conservative twice elected as governor
of Florida. Then Donald Trump steamrolled him on his way back to the
White House.
Now, more than two years after DeSantis ended his presidential campaign
and endorsed Trump, the governor is returning to the national spotlight
— at least for this week. He's pushing state lawmakers to redraw
Florida's congressional map as part of a coast-to-coast redistricting
battle ahead of November's midterm elections. His proposal would make it
easier for Republicans to win four more seats, equivalent to Democrats'
potential gains from last week's referendum in Virginia.
With DeSantis' second term coming to a close, the special legislative
session that starts Tuesday is one of his final opportunities to remind
Republicans that he could lead the party one day. But there are also
plenty of risks ahead for the 47-year-old governor.
Some Republicans are worried that a new map will backfire and make it
easier for Democrats to pick up seats. In addition, DeSantis wants
lawmakers to increase regulations for artificial intelligence and loosen
vaccine requirements, two proposals that have previously stalled in
Tallahassee.
Trump may be constitutionally barred from running for a third term in
2028, but that doesn't mean there's a clear path for DeSantis, who would
likely have Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to
contend with in a Republican primary.
“The window for Ron looks reasonably narrow at this point,” said Whit
Ayres, who served as DeSantis' pollster in his first campaign for
governor in 2018.
DeSantis, for his part, is embracing the national fight. When House
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., last week dared Florida
Republicans to go ahead with their special session, the governor punched
back with the kind of aggressiveness he showed in the early days of his
failed White House bid.
“I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign,” DeSantis said
of Jeffries. “I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We’ll
take you fishing.”
DeSantis wants four more Republican seats
DeSantis unveiled his proposed map to Fox News on Monday even before it
had been widely circulated among lawmakers. He argued that the 2020
census shortchanged the state's population, making it necessary to
redraw the lines.
The governor's map, if approved, would reshape districts in Democratic
areas around Orlando and Tampa Bay, while also condensing Democratic
voters into fewer South Florida districts. The changes could cost Reps.
Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others, their seats.
The current maps yielded a 20 to 8 Republican tilt in 2024. DeSantis'
version would aim for an advantage of 24 to 4.
DeSantis first announced the special session back in January, months
after Trump started pushing Republican-run states to redraw their
congressional boundaries. What followed has been a tit-for-tat
redistricting battle, with each party looking for an edge in the
midterms.
There's no guarantee that new maps would play out the way parties hope.
For example, Texas based its revised lines largely on Trump’s
performance in 2024, theoretically redistributing the president's voters
across more districts to pull them into the Republican column. But
Trump's popularity has waned since his reelection, including among
Latino voters that figure prominently in the state.
Florida could face a similar conundrum. If the state creates more
majority-Republican districts but with thinner margins, it could dilute
their advantage and give Democrats more opportunities to win seats,
especially if there's an anti-Trump backlash at the polls this year.
“If Florida moves like it can, the Republicans will at least be even,”
said Karl Rove, a former top political adviser to President George W.
Bush. If Republicans get too aggressive, “they may lose a seat or two.”
[to top of second column]
|
Brian Ballard, an influential Florida lobbyist who has been DeSantis’
top fundraiser, said it’s worth remembering that DeSantis was the
muscle behind the 2021 map that expanded Republicans’ advantage in
the state to its current levels.
“He’s incredibly smart and capable,” Ballard said. “And he doesn’t
get enough credit for that map. He’s done this before.”
Florida legislative leaders appear hesitant
Still, DeSantis will be testing his relationships with lawmakers,
especially in a state House chamber that has grown more willing to
buck the governor in recent sessions. House Speaker Daniel Perez and
Senate President Ben Albritton made clear for weeks that they were
not drawing their own proposals and would react only to what
DeSantis put forward.
Albritton has sent multiple memos to senators reminding them of
Florida’s state constitutional limits on redistricting and the
requirement that it not be done as a blatantly partisan act. Perez,
who convened a redistricting panel last year, has said in recent
weeks that he expects something to get done, but he’s been
circumspect in his public statements.
“We’re ready to have that conversation,” he recently told WPLG in
South Florida, before DeSantis released his proposal.
Besides redistricting, other topics won't be much easier. DeSantis
wants to require tech companies to ensure children cannot interact
with chatbots without parental permission. He also wants to prevent
AI from generating harmful material for minors. The proposal will
put DeSantis at odds with Trump, who wants the federal government to
be the regulatory arbitrator of AI technology.
On vaccines, DeSantis wants to add a conscience-based exemption to
public school vaccine requirements, similar to the existing
religious exemption. The push aligns him with the anti-vaccine
portion of the Trump base that was instrumental in pushing the
president to tap Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his health secretary.
Versions of DeSantis' proposals have passed the state Senate
previously but did not advance in the state House, where Perez has
been skeptical.
Ballard downplayed concerns. What may seem to some as strained
relations with certain Republican legislative leaders, he said, is
simply measuring DeSantis against the opening years of his tenure.
“I mean, he went from batting a thousand to maybe batting .600,”
Ballard said, using a baseball analogy for the governor who played
the sport while attending Yale. “That isn’t failure.”
The White House is watching
It's hard to say how the session will affect DeSantis' relationship
with Trump or the president's supporters.
Trump grew frustrated at DeSantis when they were competing for the
Republican presidential nomination, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious”
on the campaign trail. The governor, at least initially, gave
conservative establishment figures and key donors an option other
than the then-former president.
But Trump seemingly forgave DeSantis when he dropped out of the race
and endorsed Trump following his victory in the Iowa caucuses. He
even promised to call DeSantis by his actual name.
There's more bad blood within the White House, though. Chief of
Staff Susie Wiles, a Floridian, managed DeSantis’ razor-thin 2018
victory, only for the governor to have a falling out with her.
Wiles did not respond to a request for comment. But Ayres said he’s
certain she’s paying attention.
“Donald Trump has a long memory, and Susie Wiles has a longer one,”
he said. “And that doesn’t bode well for Gov. DeSantis to be Donald
Trump’s Republican successor.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
