Florida’s state legislature passed a new congressional map that could help Republicans gain four House seats ahead of November’s midterm election.
The map now goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk for final signoff — delivering a gift for President Trump, a Florida resident, in his quest to keep GOP control over Congress.
The vote came a few hours after the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act. DeSantis used the case as justification for redrawing Florida’s seats in the middle of the decade.
DeSantis praised the Supreme Court decision, saying it “invalidates” the provisions of the Florida Constitution “requiring the use of race in redistricting.”
The state legislature approved the map along party lines with Republicans in favor and Democrats against.
Currently, Florida has 20 Republican House seats and seven Democrats, with one Democratic-leaning vacant seat. The new map would increase the breakdown to 24 districts favoring the GOP.
The state’s new map would eliminate four Democratic-held seats — one in the Tampa area, one in the Orlando area, and two in the Fort Lauderdale area.
It is expected to be challenged in court in what could also prove to be the first test of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The fight in Florida is part of a massive redistricting battle that is taking place across the country.
Florida and Texas are two of the states where Republicans are trying to counter redistricting efforts in Virginia and California that are expected to boost the number of Democratic House seats.
Democrats need to net just three House seats in November to win control of the chamber, which incentivized both parties to try to keep an edge through redistricting.
Republican efforts received a boost with Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, which struck down Louisiana’s majority-black House district and weakened the Voting Rights Act, giving the GOP a chance to rewrite the congressional maps, particularly in Southern states.
But Florida could prove one of the only southern states to get a new map – at least for this year. States like South Carolina and Mississippi, where Republicans stand to benefit from redrawn districts, have already had their filing deadlines pass for House seats, and voters are preparing for the upcoming primaries.
