DeSantis floats Florida map that could give GOP up to four more House seats

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a plan Monday that could give Republicans as many as four more congressional seats as the GOP scrambles to preserve its thin House majority.

The Republican governor rolled out his new map in one of the last acts of a national redistricting fight that President Donald Trump kicked off last year. Republicans have drawn nine districts in their favor across four states, and the map in Florida could bring that total to 13.

In response to Trump’s efforts, Democrats have gained more favorable lines in 10 districts - nine through a pair of ballot measures and one through a court decision. Democrats notched their latest win last week, when Virginia voters approved a new map that could give Democrats all but one of the state’s congressional seats. The Virginia Supreme Court is considering challenges to the referendum and heard arguments in one case Monday.

Under a new map in Florida, Republicans would have a strong shot at taking 24 of 28 districts in a state that just a decade ago was a toss-up between the two political parties. Now, Republicans hold 20 of those districts.

DeSantis is pressing the Republican-run legislature to adopt the new map within days. A court challenge is all but certain, but Democrats will have little time to fight because the state is slated to hold its primaries in three months.

DeSantis’s plan would shift four districts significantly to the right, transforming them from ones that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election by several percentage points to ones that voted for Trump by nine or more points. Fox News first reported DeSantis’s proposal.

“It’s like they’re trying to take these districts by force,” said Fentrice Driskell, the leader of the Democrats in Florida’s House.

Trump and other GOP leaders have been explicit about why they want new lines - to help Republicans hold on to a House that they control 217-212. Republicans in Florida can’t as easily use that rationale because of a 2010 amendment to the state constitution that bars drawing districts to favor one party.

Legal challenges are sure to hinge on that part of the state constitution as Democrats look for evidence that Republicans are motivated by a desire to improve their electoral fortunes. Florida Republicans have been mostly tight-lipped but at times have signaled that their efforts are inspired by partisanship. “Because of what now has been done in Virginia, now Florida needs to respond,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, who is running to succeed DeSantis.

DeSantis approved the map that is now in effect in 2022, but his general counsel, David Axelman, argued in a memo Monday that the current map needs to be replaced because it had been “distorted by considerations of race.” His memo also questioned the legality of the amendment to the state constitution that bans drawing districts for partisan gain.

Democrats said Republicans were imperiling themselves.

“See you in Court,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) wrote on X.

John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement that Republicans will “face resistance in the courtroom and at the ballot box for this egregious power grab.”

But legal challenges could be tough. Florida’s Supreme Court last year upheld the GOP-friendly map that DeSantis and state lawmakers adopted in 2022. DeSantis appointed six of the seven members who sit on that court.

Before DeSantis released his map, some Republicans urged him to try to pick up four or five seats, while others privately worried that such an aggressive move would jeopardize other districts in a tough election year and make redistricting more vulnerable to court challenges.

A Republican familiar with the redistricting discussions said before DeSantis released his map that the state legislature seems “resigned” to passing his plan, “assuming the White House doesn’t have a concern about whatever the governor comes up with.”

“Most political consultants in Florida would hope that they only go after one additional seat because everyone’s just afraid of them diluting too many seats and it becoming a real problem for Election Day,” the Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private planning, said before DeSantis released his map.

Another Republican said that there’s little enthusiasm for redistricting among GOP officials in Florida and that it’s being done more to avoid Trump’s wrath “than actually wanting to do it.”

The fight in Florida comes after Republicans drew more favorable lines for themselves in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. Democrats responded by getting voters to approve new maps in California and Virginia; they also benefited from a court decision in Utah.

Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering striking down a major section of the Voting Rights Act, which could give Republicans a path to redrawing an additional dozen or more seats in their favor across the country.