Florida’s new congressional map remains in play, at least, for now.
On Tuesday, a Leon County judge denied a request to block the controversial new map from going into effect while a case from voting rights groups is heard.
Plaintiffs, including the League of Women Voters, Common Cause and the Equal Ground Education Fund, had requested a preliminary injunction earlier this month to pause the new map pending a final ruling from a court.
They’re arguing that the new map, which Florida Republicans adopted in special session last month, must be thrown out because it ignores Florida’s constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering.
In 2010, Florida voters overwhelmingly adopted those Fair Districts Amendments to the state constitution, which included other protections for majority-minority voting districts similar to those enshrined in the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The new Florida map gives the GOP advantages in 24 of the state's 28 congressional districts — four more than the previous map — as part of a nationwide fight to redraw maps ahead of the midterms.
President Donald Trump has explicitly pressured legislatures in Republican-held states to remake their maps in between U.S. Census counts to favor the party, hoping to curtail GOP losses in the U.S. House this fall.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he’s confident that the map will hold up in court, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that severely limits the Voting Rights Act.
DeSantis also appointed all but one of the Florida Supreme Court’s justices, and they sided with him on another recent case related to Florida’s anti-gerrymandering laws, although this particular case has not made it to the state’s highest court.
The revised districts also will make it much harder for District 9 Representative Darren Soto, a Democrat, to win re-election to the Kissimmee seat he has held for nine years.
Still, the decision on the preliminary injunction is not a ruling in the case itself. And plaintiffs have said they intend to appeal if a lower court decides that the map can stand.
In the meantime, some county elections supervisors are doing their best to anticipate what the final map will look like. In Orange County alone, switching to the new map is expected to add $400,000 to the county’s budget.
