Florida lawmakers pass a voting map that could help Republicans flip four House seats

A senator's laptop displays a Congressional Redistricting Plan during debate before its passage in the Florida Senate. Mike Stewart/AP

Mike Stewart/AP

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida lawmakers have approved a new Congressional map that could position Republicans to win four additional U.S. House seats in the midterm elections in November.

The 21 to 17 vote for final passage in the Senate came just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act in a decision on a Louisiana congressional district Wednesday morning.

Both developments will assist President Trump's national push to help the GOP in the midterm elections. With the Florida redistricting, the GOP likely gains an advantage of two or three new seats as Republican-led states have followed Trump's call and Democratic-led states have countered it.

Elections

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However, control of the House will depend on the votes in November. Democrats have said the redraw in Florida makes several GOP seats more competitive, potentially leading to smaller seat gains if strong Democratic performances seen in recent special elections continue.

The bill now goes for expected signing by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has argued that the state's rapid population growth requires redistricting. And he's urged the redrawing of districts that were drawn with consideration for preserving the voting power of minority communities.

He had predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court would weaken the Voting Rights Act in a way that would support redistricting in Florida. Indeed, after that morning ruling, he posted on X that the it "invalidates" a Florida constitutional ban on districts that deny "the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process."

But DeSantis' office has also released a color-coded map showing the partisan effect of the redistricting. Currently, the state has 28 districts with 20 leaning toward the GOP. The new map raises that to 24 districts favoring the GOP, according to the governor's office.

Democrats call it a partisan power move

Democrats have called the redraw politically motivated and therefore a violation of the constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in 2010. That amendment, which DeSantis says is now invalidated, protects minority access districts and bans politically motivated gerrymandering.

Florida state Sen. Donald Gaetz speaks on the Senate floor in favor or redistricting during the debate Wednesday. Mike Stewart/AP

Mike Stewart/AP

"Let's not pretend this is happening in a vacuum," said state Sen. Lavon Bracy Davis. "This is about power. This is about relinquishing our power and giving it to the president."

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said Tuesday the party will file lawsuits against the map.

"We are ready to not only challenge these maps with support from all of our Democratic coalition partners here in the state of Florida, across the country, the nation is watching what has happened here in the state of Florida, that democracy has fallen here in our state," she said.

Florida's new map may be locked in for the midterms, given court precedents against overturning election laws so close to an election that it causes confusion. Florida primaries are in August..

"You have to have the primary. You have to have the ballots printed. You have to know what candidates have qualified for the ballots. They have to have time to get signatures," said Michael Morley, who directs the Election Law Center at Florida State University. "Everybody needs to know what the districts actually are well in advance of both the primary and the general elections in order for those elections to be able to happen.".

Trump started an unusual mid-decade redistricting race

Usually states redistrict at the start of each decade after the census shows how many U.S. House seats each state should have. But President Trump set off a mid-decade redistricting race to secure more seats by pushing Republican-led states to redraw their maps before the midterm elections.

He got Texas Republicans to give their party an advantage in five additional seats, and California Democrats responded by helping Democrats win five more seats in their state. Other states have followed and when Virginia voters approved redistricting in the commonwealth last, Democrats had caught up with and possibly even surpassed Trump's GOP push.

Florida's move could give Republicans the edge again. Republican-led states have redistricting seats that could give their party an advantage in about 13 seats. Redistricting around the country has given Democrats an edge in about 10 seats.

Republicans control the U.S. House with just a few more seats than Democrats and maintaining that hold could be key to Trump's agenda and for blocking Democratic-led investigations of his administration.