Florida Legislature approves GOP congressional gerrymander barred by state constitution

Republican majorities in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate approved a mid-decade redistricting plan designed to elect more GOP candidates to Congress. Lawmakers passed the new maps on April 29, despite a provision in the Florida Constitution that prohibits intentional partisan gerrymandering.

The House voted 83-28 in favor, while the Senate approved it 21-17. 

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called a special session of the Legislature and proposed the maps on April 27, telling Fox News, “Our new map for 2026 makes good on my promise to conduct mid-decade redistricting, and it more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today.” He provided the network with a map of Florida depicting the new districts, with 24 GOP-leaning districts colored in red and four Democratic-leaning districts colored in blue.

The 2010 Fair District Amendments, approved 63%-37% by Florida voters, changed the state’s constitution to say: “Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice.”

Florida’s current maps are already heavily skewed in favor of Republicans. Democrats won eight seats in the 2024 election under the current map — about 29% of the seats — and Republicans won 20 —about 71% — on the same day that President Donald Trump won Florida by a 56%-43% margin. The new maps could leave Democrats with just 14% of the state’s delegation. 

The DeSantis administration acknowledged that it had taken partisan data into account in drawing the new maps, but argued in a memo to the Legislature that those constitutional provisions are null and void. “The Supreme Court is poised to affirm this basic non-discrimination principle in Louisiana v. Callais,” DeSantis’ general counsel David Axelman wrote. “The race-based requirements of the FDA also cannot be severed from the other requirements of the FDA. The FDA was sold to the voters as a package. There was no severability provision included in the FDA when it was presented to the voters. And because one part is unconstitutional, there’s little reason to think that voters would have approved the remaining parts by themselves.”

A 6-3 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana map on April 29 in its Louisiana v. Callais decision, significantly limiting the scope of the Voting Rights Act. 

Jennifer Bradley was one of four Senate Republicans who voted against the redistricting plan. 

“The attorneys came before us, and they said that without the Callais decision, we are operating on a signal from the Supreme Court,” she said during a committee hearing, according to the news site Florida Politics. “As the current state of the law, that is unconstitutional. And on top of that, it also rests on a legal theory that the Supreme Court has not even opined on or heard that the Fair Districts Amendment would be entirely voided. That’s a big deal. I would love for that decision to come out, for the governor to get an advisory opinion on the effect of the Fair Districts Amendment. And then let’s do this. I just, I can’t do it. It’s just unconstitutional. And it’s a tough one, but I’m a no.”

Republican lawmakers did not take part in legislative floor debate over the new map, according to the New York Times. 

Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power said in a press release: “Florida got it right. Governor Ron DeSantis and our Legislature have delivered congressional maps that reflect the continued growth of our state that are fair, and constitutional, ensuring Florida voters are represented accurately. This is responsible governance and we applaud Governor DeSantis for his leadership on this and the Legislature for moving forward and passing these new maps.” 

An Emerson College poll released April 2 found that 56% of likely Florida voters believe that a mid-decade redrawing of the state’s congressional districts is a bad idea, including 65% of Democrats, 64% of independents, and 43% of Republicans.

Democrats have vowed to challenge the new maps in court. “The Court may have rewritten federal law, but it does not have the power to rewrite Florida’s Constitution,” the Florida Democratic Party said in a statement. “Florida Democrats will use every tool available under our state constitution to fight these illegal maps and stop this power grab.”