Topline Takeaways

• Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has been unusually hands-on throughout the redistricting process by drawing his own districts and pressuring state courts.

• DeSantis has taken aim squarely at FL-5, a majority Black district that he personally views as an unconstitutional gerrymander. (Despite the fact that the boundaries have been previously approved in court.)

• To appease their governor, Republicans in the legislature submitted an unusual two-map plan for its congressional districts: a primary map that models the governor’s requests and a secondary map that would be enacted if the first map was found unconstitutional in state court.

Who’s In Control

Florida’s redistricting process is completely controlled by the state legislature and requires gubernatorial approval before being adopted. Republicans are firmly in the drivers seat here as they hold a trifecta: majorities in both houses alongside a Republican governor.

Let’s cut to the chase: Florida Republicans don’t know what to do with Black voters. The state’s 5th congressional district (previously the 3rd) has been a minority-majority district for decades. While always anchored in Jacksonville, the district has long held odd boundaries that stretch far from the city to capture a substantial Black population. The district was challenged as recently as 2014 for partisan gerrymandering as Judge Terry Lewis found that the act of packing Black voters into FL-5 made neighboring FL-10 disproportionately favorable to Republicans. The judge ordered a redraw of the district’s boundaries against the wishes of its sitting House representative as she saw this move as a way to steal a majority-Black seat.

“We will go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, dealing with making sure that African Americans are not disenfranchised.” -Rep. Corrine Brown

In the redraw of the district, mapmakers ensured that the district would remain minority-majority. This led to today’s 5th district that stretches along the Georgia-Florida border and remains largely untouched in Republicans’ secondary map. To be clear: this configuration was upheld in court as it remedied the partisan gerrymander while keeping FL-5 majority Black.

Gov. DeSantis Takes Aim at FL-5

Fast forward to 2022, Florida Republicans created a new map that left FL-5 largely untouched. Meanwhile Gov. Ron DeSantis threw his hat into the redistricting ring by releasing his own map that dismantles FL-5. DeSantis himself has called out the district as an illegal gerrymander (despite the aforementioned court ruling) and he’s made it his mission to eliminate the majority-Black district.

The moves by the governor have left Florida Republicans in a bind. It seems as though the mapmakers understand the futility in the governor’s push, yet they still need his signature to enact maps for upcoming elections. So they’ve attempted to have their cake and eat it too: Republicans submitted an odd two-map proposal (shown below) that passed through both state houses just last week. The proposal serves as a way to both appease the governor’s wishes while providing an alternative that’s more likely to stand up in court.

Florida Republicans’ Two-Map Proposal

As a reminder, roughly 15% of Florida’s population is African American, that translates to roughly 3.1 million Black voters. Without counting FL-5 the state only has three other majority-Black district out of a total 28 seats, therefore many agree the Voting Rights Act requires FL-5 remain as is. It seems as though DeSantis sees it in the exact opposite direction without any concern for protecting the rights of Black voters.

“We will not be signing any congressional map that has an unconstitutional gerrymander in it, and that is going to be the position that we stick to. Just take that to the bank.” -Gov. Ron DeSantis

If DeSantis continues to act like a spoiled child and no maps are enacted, the state’s court system would step in and draw new boundaries, shutting Republicans out of the process completely.

Ron DeSantis @GovRonDeSantis

I will veto the congressional reapportionment plan currently being debated by the House. DOA.

March 4th 2022

1,889 Retweets17,783 Likes

(Since no map has been enacted yet, I’m holding off on publishing the district stats breakdown. I’ll do another post on Florida including that data once the map is finalized.)

Leftover Links

• Learn more about the ways politicians can abuse the Voting Rights Act to advance ulterior motives.

• See how the courts responded when DeSantis pushed to offer his “advice” on redistricting.