Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed an aggressively gerrymandered electoral map into law, the final step in a bid to flip four more seats in Congress to Republicans.
Litigation challenging the map, which could hand the GOP a 24-4 advantage in the state’s congressional seats, is expected to be filed imminently.
“Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis wrote immediately after signing the gerrymander into law.
Florida now becomes the fourth state to redistrict at the behest of President Donald Trump, who last year called on GOP-controlled legislatures to break with tradition and redraw their maps mid-decade to hand Republicans an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.
Even by those standards, Florida’s redistricting was unprecedented. DeSantis revealed the new map Monday, legislative committees held public hearings Tuesday, and the state House and Senate approved the map Wednesday. There was virtually no opportunity for public participation.
Questions also remain about the map’s legality.
A voter-approved amendment to Florida’s constitution currently bans partisan gerrymandering. Moreover, the map was drawn in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) undermining the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the landmark civil rights law that had restricted racial gerrymandering for 60 years.
SCOTUS finally issued a ruling gutting the VRA Wednesday, as the Florida House prepared to vote on redistricting. Despite that sudden, seismic shift in the legal landscape, the legislators declined to delay the vote and quickly approved the new map. Later, the state Senate also voted in favor.
Florida moved to redistrict after voters in Virginia last week approved a new congressional map that could flip four seats to Democrats. Combined with the map California voters passed in November, that would effectively nullify the seats Republicans were expected to gain from Trump-inspired gerrymanders in Texas, North Carolina and Missouri.
But the Virginia map must still survive three GOP legal challenges to take effect.
On Tuesday, the Virginia Supreme Court allowed a ruling blocking election officials from certifying the results of the redistricting election to stand while the justices consider the case.
This is a developing story.
