Gov. Ron DeSantis released the new congressional maps Monday that lawmakers will review during a redistricting special session this week.
If approved, the new maps could flip half of the state’s Democratic seats, including one in Central Florida.
Voters currently in District 9, which includes South Orlando and all of Osceola County, have been represented by Democratic Rep. Darren Soto for nine years.
Under DeSantis’s proposal, the district would extend about twice as far south, stretching to include all of Indian River, Okeechobee, Highlands and Glades counties.
Some South Orlando voters in District 9 would be absorbed into other districts.
The new maps would favor Republicans in 24 of 28 districts, meaning more than 85% of the state’s congressional seats would have Republican majorities.
When the governor won reelection by historically large margins in 2022, he only got about 60% of the vote.
DeSantis has given nonpartisan reasons to justify the special session, arguing that the state’s explosive population growth since 2020 deserves a new map that will more accurately represent its population.
But any new map proposal, including the version unveiled on Monday, must be based only on the latest new decade census data, just as the current map is.
The governor also said he expects the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that race cannot be a factor when drawing political maps, which would undo a key provision in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell bashed the proposal for favoring Republicans.
“The governor's claim that this map fairly reflects Florida is completely bogus,” said Driskell, a Tampa Democrat. “We're not a one-party state, and nearly two-thirds of Florida voters are not Republicans.”
She also criticized the lack of transparency in publishing the new maps just 24 hours before the special session, which DeSantis has scheduled to last for just four days.
“If this were intended to be a meaningful legislative process, all legislators would have been given plenty of time to review the proposed changes,” she said. “This shell game just goes to show you that more equitable representation was never the goal.”
Soto derided the proposed map as a “dummymander” in a post on X on Monday.
“This map is an absolutely unlawful violation of the Florida Constitution,” Soto wrote. “The Legislature should reject it. The courts should strike it down.”
In 2010, Florida voters amended the state constitution to ban gerrymandering with the purpose of favoring one party. Any new map, if adopted, is expected to face immediate legal challenges from voting rights groups.
The special session is scheduled to begin at noon on Tuesday.
