TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office submitted a new congressional map to the Legislature on Monday that would drastically alter several U.S. House districts in Central and South Florida.
The new map, if approved by lawmakers in a special session that starts Tuesday, could flip a handful of districts from Democrats to Republicans, helping the GOP retain control of the U.S. House in November.
DeSantis released the map to Fox News first on Monday before the plan was formally sent to the Legislature.
House and Senate committees will review the proposal Tuesday ahead of a likely floor vote Wednesday.
In a memo to lawmakers, DeSantis’ general counsel, David Axelman, stated the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to knock down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that allows districts to be drawn based on race to address historic discrimination. A ruling in a redistricting case out of Louisiana that was heard in October is still pending.
Florida voters, though, approved the Fair Districts amendments in 2010, which prohibit drawing districts to diminish the voting power of minorities or to favor a particular party. Because the Florida Supreme Court in 2025 struck down the part of the Fair District amendment (FDA) that allows districts to be drawn for racial reasons, Axelman claims all of the amendment should be null and void, allowing for partisan gerrymandering.
“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,” Axelman wrote. “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.”
The Legislature might have a different view of the legal landscape. When DeSantis first called the special session in January he set the date for April 20, but earlier this month he pushed the start back by one week.
At the time Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, issued a memo to members reminding them of the state constitution’s prohibition against partisan gerrymandering.
“Florida’s Constitution includes strict guidelines for what information the Legislature can and cannot consider when drawing new congressional districts,” Albritton wrote. “Regardless of the forum or format, we can only consider thoughts and feedback in keeping with constitutional standards. Senators should take care to insulate themselves from partisan-funded organizations and other interests that may intentionally or unintentionally attempt to inappropriately influence redistricting."
Democratic lawmakers decried the new map as a blatant partisan power grab.
“The fact that the Governor shared his illegally rigged Congressional map with (Fox News) before sharing it with state senators voting on them TOMORROW shows how partisan and illegitimate this process is,” state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, posted on X.
The map was drawn by DeSantis staffers over the last week.
President Donald Trump kicked off a redistricting arms race when he pushed Republican-controlled states to redraw their maps ahead of the midterm elections. GOP-heavy Texas was the first state to do so, and Democrats in California responded. Some states, such as Indiana and Maryland, have rejected the mapmaking mania, but Virginia voters last week approved a new map tilted toward Democrats.
That left Florida as the potentially last chance for Republicans to slant the midterm landscape to their favor in hopes of salvaging their narrow advantage in the U.S. House. There are currently 217 Republicans, 212 Democrats, one independent and five vacancies in the chamber.
DeSantis has also pointed to a faulty 2020 census that added one more congressional district to Florida’s delegation, but DeSantis claims the state should have been given another. Also, Florida has added 2 million people since the 2020 census and the districts are now lopsided.
But Florida has had rampant growth in its recent history and hasn’t conducted mid-decade redistricting, and DeSantis hasn’t suggested redrawing the legislative districts, just the U.S. House districts.
The new maps, if passed and signed into law, are likely destined for the courts, but even with DeSantis having appointed six out of the seven members of the Florida Supreme Court, it’s unclear whether the new districts would get knocked down.
Under current precedence, courts have leaned on the Purcell principle, which holds that courts shouldn’t make changes to election laws close to an election. But unlike after a new census, Florida already has a district map upheld by the courts if the new map is struck down.
“In 2022 you needed a map. Florida had added a new congressional district, the old map was invalid,” Democratic redistricting consultant Mat Isbell said. “We have a valid map that we’re currently using.”
