DeSantis Signs District Map, Lawsuits Filed

On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new congressional district map into law. The map redraws district boundaries to flip four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives from Democratic to Republican control. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the map, alleging that it was drawn to benefit Republicans. The map was passed last week by both chambers of the Republican-majority Florida legislature, largely along partisan lines. Gov. DeSantis called a special session for redistricting mid-decade, breaking a norm of only redrawing lines after new census data is collected. Immediately after DeSantis’s signature on Monday, a lawsuit was filed by Equal Ground Education Fund in the Second Judicial Circuit in Leon County. Two more suits quickly followed, from the Campaign Legal Center and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. These plaintiffs are suing Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a DeSantis appointee, to block the map from taking effect before this year’s midterm elections. Congressional representation in Flagler and Volusia counties is unaffected by the newly-drawn boundaries. The 6th and 7th districts, presently represented by Republicans Randy Fine and Cory Mills, were not changed. Gerrymandering or Restoring Fairness? “The new gerrymandered map was deliberately drawn to favor one party, utilizing partisan data in the drawing of every district, with the explicit goal of eliminating four districts held by Democrats — directly violating Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment,” said the Campaign Legal Center in an announcement of their lawsuit. The Fair Districts Amendment was passed in 2010 by Florida voters. Its language expressly prohibits the drawing of congressional districts to benefit or hamper political parties’ standing in a respective body. If courts rule that this new map meets that criteria, it could be struck down ahead of this year’s elections. Still, Gov. DeSantis is arguing this map is fixing a deeper problem in Florida’s district boundaries. According to his legal team, the previous districts were drawn along lines that factored in race. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court eroded the power of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ensured that racial minorities are afforded proportionate representation in Congress. This recent decision could weaken plaintiffs’ standing to argue racial discrimination in their challenge of Florida’s new map. Representation Compared to Registration Florida presently has seven Democratic representatives in the U.S. House out of 28 districts. The 20th district, which is currently vacant, is also regarded as a Democratic stronghold. If the map signed into law by Gov. DeSantis stands up to legal challenges, Florida Democrats would likely hold only four U.S. House seats. Four of 28 seats equates to 14.3% representation. Registered Democrats account for 30.2% of Florida’s voters according to data from the Division of Elections as of March 31. Under this new map, Republicans would account for 85.7% of Florida’s congressional delegation despite holding only 41.3% of the state’s registered voters. By this formula, voters registered with no party affiliation or with minor parties continue to have no representation at all despite making up 28.5% of the voter base. National Context Florida is the latest in a string of states which have redrawn their congressional boundaries since late last year. Texas kicked off the trend, flipping five seats to Republicans in August 2025. Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio added another four for the GOP. California, Utah, and Virginia then combined to return ten seats to the Democrats. If Florida’s four-seat flip for Republicans prevails, it would be a net gain of three seats for the GOP across the eight states. Other states, such as Kansas, Indiana, and Maryland, have rejected opportunities to join the redistricting scramble. The U.S. House of Representatives currently has a Republican majority of 218 to 212 over the Democrats. With margins so slim, the partisan consequences of redistricting could make the difference of which party controls the House from 2027 to 2029.