Florida's Republican governor signs state's new congressional map into law
Source: The Guardian
Mon 4 May 2026 14.46 EDT
Last modified on Mon 4 May 2026 15.46 EDT
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, signed a new gerrymandered congressional district map into law Monday that gives Republicans an electoral advantage in four additional races in November’s midterm elections. “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis said in a post on X, with a map of the new districts attached.
With the stroke of a pen, DeSantis, a Republican, has done more to determine the outcome of congressional elections in Florida than any political operative or field organizer in the state. The new map slices and dices districts around Miami, Orlando and the Tampa Bay area. As an example of the effect of the mid-decade redistricting, mapmakers packed reliably Democratic voters around Orlando into a single district, forcing Democratic representatives Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost to compete for the same voters.
Conversely, the new map splits the Tampa Bay area from two districts into three, somewhat shoring up the 13th district for Republicans, now held by firebrand Trump supporter and influencer congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, while weakening a left-leaning district for Democrats held by congresswoman Kathy Castor.
Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a longstanding figure among the Democratic National Committee, has had her seat drawn out from beneath her. Miami’s Democrats have been packed into three tight districts along the coast. Florida’s current delegation has 20 Republicans and eight Democrats.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/04/florida-new-congressional-maps-desantis
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"Partisan gerrymandering is illegal under the Florida Constitution. Passed by voters in 2010, the Fair Districts Amendment explicitly prohibits maps intended to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent. Despite this, legal challenges are currently addressing accusations that recent maps violate these provisions.
Key Aspects of the Law:
Constitutional Ban: The state constitution (Article III, Section 20) prohibits using redistricting to favor a political party or incumbent.
Requirements: Districts must be compact, contiguous, and respect existing political subdivisions.Legal Challenges:
As of May 2026, lawsuits allege that new congressional maps signed by Governor DeSantis violate these constitutional, voter-approved standards.2010 Amendment: Known as the "Fair Districts Amendments," they were passed with over 62% voter support."
-Google AI
* The district currently represented by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor would be broken into five pieces.
* The city of Tampa would be represented in three districts, while the city of St. Petersburg would be represented in two districts.
* Several of the districts would stretch from inner-cities to rural counties.
Link: https://www.fox13news.com/news/new-florida-redistricting-map-threatens-dismantle-tampa-bays-political-landscape