Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shook hands with President Donald Trump upon Trump's arrival at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida, on July 1, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds via Getty Images)
Florida Lawmakers Approve Controversial Congressional Map
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida lawmakers on Wednesday swiftly approved a new congressional map that fails to resolve either issue cited by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis as justification for an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting. The map also violates a state constitutional ban on partisan map drawing by likely giving Republicans more House seats, as demanded by President Donald Trump.
Just 53 hours after the new map debuted on Fox News, showing 24 red districts with four small blue dots, the Florida Senate passed it on a 21-17 vote. The map, created entirely by DeSantis with no input from lawmakers or the public, now heads to the governor for his signature.
“Let me tell you what this is about. This is about fear. Not just any fear — panic, the kind of panic that comes from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when the ground is shifting beneath you and you can’t win in a fair fight,” said Orlando Democratic state Senator LaVon Bracy Davis.
Brian Nathan, a Democratic Navy veteran who won a Tampa state Senate seat in a special election, noted that none of his constituents requested a new map. “We are here because of two people. The president asked explicitly for more Republican districts, and the governor is happy to oblige,” he said.
The state House, with an even stronger Republican majority, voted 83-28 in favor of the map hours earlier, even as lawmakers reviewed the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Callais case, which weakened protections for minority districts under the Voting Rights Act.
That decision likely has little effect on Florida's congressional map, as the state Supreme Court ruled last year that protections against weakening minority districts violated the U.S. Constitution. That language was part of the Fair Districts Amendment on congressional districts, passed by voters in 2010. The 2025 Florida high court ruling is the basis for DeSantis' legal theory that striking down part of the Fair Districts provisions nullifies the entire amendment.
The main part of the voter initiative bans efforts to protect incumbents or a particular party, while a separate section mandates drawing districts that do not split up counties and cities as much as possible. Jason Poredo, the DeSantis staffer who drew the new map, told lawmakers on Tuesday that he used partisan data and conceded that the new map splits up more counties and cities than the existing map.
DeSantis' outside lawyer on redistricting, Mohammad Jazil, testified that there was no need to abide by the voter-approved partisan intent ban. “Our legal position is that you do not need to comply,” he told lawmakers.
Poredo also testified that he used the same Census data for the new map as for the current map, meaning the new districts do not better reflect Florida's current population or migration patterns.
DeSantis has argued, falsely, that a new map was necessary because Florida was shortchanged in the 2020 Census, has seen an enormous population influx, and many residents have moved within the state. “All of you know that this doesn’t address anything about an alleged census undercount. We’re not getting an extra seat in Congress,” said Orlando Democratic Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith. “That is a completely spurious point.”
Republican legislators frequently repeated DeSantis' arguments. “There is obviously the argument that, because so many people have moved to Florida, these congressional districts are not perhaps accurately representing the electorate in the best way possible,” said state Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez from Doral. “So I think these new maps will give voters an opportunity to have more representation and more voices in Congress.”
Pensacola Republican Don Gaetz, who sponsored DeSantis' map on the Senate floor, cited those claims. “In our state, as the governor has indicated, his words, not mine, surges in population that, in his view, are leaving some Floridians underrepresented,” Gaetz said. He conceded that the new map did not address that issue and referred further questions to the governor's office. DeSantis' office did not respond to queries.
DeSantis began speaking about the need for a new map two weeks after Trump publicly demanded that Republican-led states draw new maps to create more Republican seats for the November midterm elections. Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri quickly complied. Democrats responded with new maps in California and Virginia, though Virginia's map is under review by that state's Supreme Court.
The new Florida map is almost certain to face legal challenges, particularly regarding the openly partisan intent that violates the Florida constitution.
