Florida legislature approves new congressional map intended to boost
Republicans in midterms
[April 30, 2026]
By BILL BARROW
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature approved a new
congressional map intended to maximize Republicans’ advantage in the
state as part of the national redistricting battle that President Donald
Trump launched ahead of this year’s midterms.
The vote came just two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his
proposal and the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back a key
provision of the Voting Rights Act. The decision could make it harder
for Democrats to challenge Republican efforts to redraw congressional
districts in ways that limit the influence of nonwhite voters.
DeSantis’ map could increase Republicans’ advantage in Florida’s House
delegation to 24 to 4, up from the current split of 20 to 8. The
potential four-seat gain is the same as what Virginia Democrats expect
from a recent redistricting referendum, which is being challenged in
state court there.
Florida's new districts are certain to face lawsuits as well, especially
because the state constitution prohibits redistricting for explicitly
partisan purposes. DeSantis and his aides believe those provisions will
not be a legal barrier because they have been weakened previously by the
Florida Supreme Court and again by Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court
ruling.
Florida Republicans, comfortable in their supermajority in both
legislative chambers, said little about the new districts during the
whirlwind special session. The measure’s sponsor, Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka,
R-Fort Myers, limited her remarks to careful answers about an “evolving
legal landscape” as Democrats’ asked her about the redistricting effort.
“I believe that there is a likelihood that that map will be upheld
against legal challenge,” Persons-Mulicka said.
Opposition was vocal but futile
Democrats, activists and some citizens to decried the process as a
partisan power play to satisfy Trump, boost DeSantis’ future ambitions
and hurt the majority of registered Florida voters who are not
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, D-St. Petersburg, told her
Republican colleagues before an 83-28 vote in favor of the measure.
The Florida Senate later approved the plan in a 21-17 vote.
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, chided Republicans for
yielding the redistricting process to DeSantis, whose second term
expires in January.
“Last time I checked, we’re the ones who were supposed to be drawing the
map,” she said, “and yet we are allowing y’all to continue to hold the
water of the governor, who is a lame duck and just trying to figure out
what his next job is going to be.”
Democrats diminished in metro areas
The new map reshapes districts in Democratic areas around Orlando, the
Tampa-St. Petersburg area and in south Florida around Palm Beach, Fort
Lauderdale and Miami. The changes could cost Reps. Jared Moskowitz and
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others, their seats.
DeSantis and his aides said before and during the session that new map
is necessary to account for population growth in suburban and exurban
areas since the 2020 census and to ensure Florida has a “race-neutral”
congressional plan.
The proposal presumed the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wednesday
decision, which specifically struck down a Louisiana congressional
district drawn for the electorate to be majority Black. Historically,
Black voters have aligned more with Democrats, while a majority of white
voters lean toward Republicans.
The changes in Florida include the effective elimination of one nearly
majority Black south Florida district that was represented by Rep.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Black Democrat, until her resignation
earlier this month.
Lawmakers fast-tracked the measures
From the session’s opening bell Tuesday morning, Republican leaders
moved swiftly.
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Sen. Donald Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks on the senate floor on SB 8-D, a
redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida
Legislature, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP
Photo/Mike Stewart)
In one of just two committee hearings, Senate Rules Chair Kathleen
Passidomo, R-Naples, said she wanted “everybody who has taken the
time and effort to come to Capitol to have an opportunity to speak.”
Then she declared each speaker would have 30 seconds.
“I know that doesn’t seem like a lot but it actually is, uh, if
you’re concise,” she said.
Deborah Courtney drove more than two hours from from Jacksonville
and noted that all citizen speakers expressed opposition.
“Why are you doing this redistricting now?” she asked senators. “I
doubt that your phone have been ringing off the hook from your
constituents going, hey, we need some new maps.”
Rob Woods came from the Tampa area, which under the new map could
have no Democratic representation in the U.S. House. A Black man,
Wood told senators he was a veteran who said he "bought in from
elementary school” on notions of the U.S. as an equal-opportunity
democracy.
Now, he said, “it seems as if we are back in that period of
Reconstruction, moving back to Jim Crow.”
On the House floor, Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, sidestepped
specifics about what factors went into the map. She repeatedly
called it “race-neutral,” citing testimony from DeSantis aide Jason
Poreda, who took sole credit for the map during the session and did
not disclose the names of any architects. But asked about Poreda’s
admission that he examined party affiliation and voting patterns,
Persons-Mulicka balked.
“I cannot speak to the intent of the map drawer,” she said.
DeSantis unveiled the map on Fox News
Persons-Mulicka and Sen. Don Gaetz, who sponsored the map in the
Senate, deflected questions about why DeSantis unveiled the plan on
Fox News.
Gaetz, a Crestview Republican, confirmed he had no part in drafting
the map and forwarded the governor’s proposal to other senators as
soon as he received it late Monday morning.
There’s no guarantee that new maps across the country will play out
the way two parties hope. For example, Texas based its revised lines
largely on Trump’s performance in 2024, 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 who figure prominently in
the state.
Florida could face a similar conundrum. Creating more
majority-Republican districts could leave margins thin enough to
allow for Democratic victories, especially if there’s an anti-Trump
backlash at the polls this year.
Some Republicans have expressed worry about that possibility, and a
handful voted against the measure in the Florida legislature.
The governor already took a hit because of the session. He had
wanted lawmakers to adopt state regulations on artificial
intelligence, ostensibly protecting minors from harmful material,
while rolling back vaccine mandates for students in Florida’s public
schools. House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican but not a DeSantis
ally, spiked both ideas.
DeSantis called it “political shenanigans.”
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, lamented that
Republicans still delivered DeSantis the big-ticket item that he
wanted.
“On destroying our democracy, they’ve been aligned,” she said, “and
that’s what we did here today.”
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