Florida: You Can't Have It Both Ways
A majority-Black district divides Florida Republicans in redistricting.
Topline Takeaways
Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has been unusually hands-on throughout the redistricting process by drawing his own districts and pressuring state courts.
DeSantis has taken aim squarely at FL-5, a majority Black district that he personally views as an unconstitutional gerrymander. (Despite the fact that the boundaries have been previously approved in court.)
To appease their governor, Republicans in the legislature submitted an unusual two-map plan for its congressional districts: a primary map that models the governor’s requests and a secondary map that would be enacted if the first map was found unconstitutional in state court.
Who’s In Control
Florida’s redistricting process is completely controlled by the state legislature and requires gubernatorial approval before being adopted. Republicans are firmly in the drivers seat here as they hold a trifecta: majorities in both houses alongside a Republican governor.
Let’s cut to the chase: Florida Republicans don’t know what to do with Black voters. The state’s 5th congressional district (previously the 3rd) has been a minority-majority district for decades. While always anchored in Jacksonville, the district has long held odd boundaries that stretch far from the city to capture a substantial Black population. The district was challenged in 2014 for partisan gerrymandering as Judge Terry Lewis found that the act of packing Black voters into FL-5 made neighboring FL-10 disproportionately favorable to Republicans. The judge ordered a redraw of the district’s boundaries against the wishes of its sitting House representative as she saw this move as a way to steal a majority-Black seat.
“We will go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, dealing with making sure that African Americans are not disenfranchised.” -Rep. Corrine Brown
In the redraw of the district, mapmakers ensured that the district would remain minority-majority. This led to today’s 5th district that stretches along the Georgia-Florida border and remains largely untouched in Republicans’ secondary map. To be clear: this configuration was upheld in court as it remedied the partisan gerrymander of the neighboring district while keeping FL-5 majority Black.
Gov. DeSantis Takes Aim at FL-5
Fast forward to 2022: Florida Republicans created a new map that left FL-5 largely untouched. Meanwhile Gov. Ron DeSantis threw his hat into the redistricting ring by releasing his own map that dismantles FL-5. DeSantis himself has called out the district as an “unconstitutional gerrymander” (despite the aforementioned court ruling) and he’s made it his mission to eliminate the majority-Black district.
The moves by the governor have left Florida Republicans in a bind. It seems as though the mapmakers understand the futility in the governor’s push, yet they still need his signature to enact maps for upcoming elections. So they’ve attempted to have their cake and eat it too: Republicans submitted an odd two-map proposal (shown below) that passed through both state houses in early 2022. The proposal serves as a way to both appease the governor’s wishes while providing an alternative that’s more likely to stand up in court.
Florida Republicans’ Two-Map Proposal
As a reminder, roughly 15% of Florida’s population is African American, that translates to roughly 3.1 million Black voters. Without counting FL-5 the state only has three other majority-Black district out of a total 28 seats, therefore many agree the Voting Rights Act requires FL-5 remain as is. It seems as though DeSantis sees it in the exact opposite direction without any concern for protecting the rights of Black voters.
If DeSantis continues to act like a spoiled child and no maps are enacted, the state’s court system would step in and draw new boundaries, shutting Republicans out of the process completely.
