Governor Ron DeSantis, on Monday signed into law the state’s new congressional district map approved by lawmakers in last week’s special session of the Florida legislature.
The new map aims to increase the number of Florida’s U.S. House seats held by Republicans in a broader mid-decade redistricting effort sparked by President Donald Trump to help the GOP maintain control of Congress after this year’s midterm elections.
Just hours later, legal challenges to the maps began to be filed by voting rights organizations hoping to invalidate the maps. They argue the new maps are overtly partisan and as such, violate the Fair District Amendments voters enshrined in the Florida Constitution in 2010.
Supporters of Florida’s new congressional map point to last week’s U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that strikes down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that enabled the crafting of minority access districts. They argue that Florida’s racial redistricting standards conflict with the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, and that the state’s fair district amendments, themselves, are unconstitutional.
With midterm primary elections already underway in some states, FGCU Political Science Professor Sandra Pavelka, Ph.D., and UCF Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett, Ph.D. weigh in on what this means for candidates and voters and what’s next for the Florida Legislature, which still is slated to convene another special session next week to produce a state budget.
