Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that he will convene a special legislative session in late April to consider a mid-decade redistricting effort, which could give the GOP a boost ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The Sunshine State governor explained that he will wait until the end of Florida’s legislative session – April 20 – to see how the Supreme Court rules in Louisiana v. Callais, a case set to determine whether a part of the Voting Rights Act that bars discrimination in voting systems is constitutional.
“We are going to do it in the later part of April, partially because there’s a Supreme Court decision that’s going to affect the validity of some of these districts nationwide, including some of the districts in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at a press conference.
“Our population has changed so much in the last 4 or 5 years,” the governor continued. “We need to get apportioned properly, and people deserve equal representation, and so we look forward to being able to work with the legislature to get that across the finish line.”
DeSantis said he’s aware “there’s a lot of people that are excited in both the House and the Senate to be able to do it” and that they’ll “get their chance.”
“But realistically, you can’t do it now. The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled. So we’ve got to give some time for that.”
Some Republicans believe redrawing Florida’s congressional map could award the GOP as many as five seats in the US House next year.
“You are looking at a place in Florida where we can pick up three, four seats and that would bring us more in line to where we are in our voting population,” Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power told reporters in October — before upping the total to five.
“I hope the Legislature does it because we deserve that kind of representation,” Power added, according to Politico.
Out of the Sunshine State’s 28 congressional districts, 20 are already controlled by Republicans.
Reps. Darren Soto, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Kathy Castor, Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz, Frederica Wilson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — who was hit with a federal indictment late last year — are the only Democrats representing Florida districts in Congress.
Nationwide, Republicans could gain as many as nine additional seats in the House next year as a result of redistricting in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
Meanwhile, Democrats expect to add six seats in California and Utah thanks to mid-decade redistricting.
The Florida Democratic Party slammed DeSantis’ redistricting push as a “partisan and unnecessary move that will cost Florida taxpayers millions of dollars.”
“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to rig the system and silence voters before the 2026 election,” the party said in a statement. “Now, after gutting representation for Black Floridians just three years ago, Ron is hoping the decimation of the Voting Rights Act by Trump’s Supreme Court will allow him to further gerrymander and suppress the vote of millions of Floridians.
“What DeSantis is doing is reckless, partisan, and opportunistic – all things Floridians said redistricting shouldn’t be in 2010 when they passed the Fair Districts Amendment.”
