Florida House lawmakers approved a new congressional map Wednesday that would give Republicans a leg up in four more U.S. House seats, boosting their chances of keeping control of the chamber amid a nationwide redistricting arms race.
Republicans who control the state House adopted the plan two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) presented it to them — and a little over an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision curtailing the Voting Rights Act and giving states more leeway to draw for partisan advantage. The GOP-run state Senate is expected to adopt the map later Wednesday and send it to DeSantis for final approval. Court challenges are expected.
President Donald Trump last year urged Republican-led states to adopt the highly unusual tactic of redrawing their congressional maps in the middle of the decade instead of waiting for the 2030 Census. Five states, including Florida, have drawn or are drawing 13 districts with lines more favorable to Republicans.
Democrats responded by persuading voters to draw new districts in their favor in California and Virginia. They also won a court case in Utah, giving them a total of 10 districts with more favorable boundaries.
With the new Florida map, Republicans have a strong chance of winning 24 of 28 districts in a state that was seen as a presidential battleground just a decade ago. The map shifts four districts that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election by several percentage points to ones that voted for Trump by nine or more points.
GOP victories for the four seats — or those newly drawn in other states — are not guaranteed. Trump’s polling numbers have slumped, and Democrats are optimistic they can win the House even with new districts. Republicans now control the House 217-212, and a handful of races could decide which party holds a majority next year.
Attention will soon shift to the courts. Challenges to the Florida map will have to move quickly because the state will hold primaries in August, and election officials must make ballots available weeks before then.
Florida’s Constitution bars drawing districts for partisan gain, and that ban is expected to be the centerpiece of any challenge. An aide to DeSantis said in a public hearing Tuesday that he had taken partisanship into account when he drew the map.
The new map replaces one that GOP lawmakers and DeSantis adopted four years ago, and Republicans said they believed the new one is fairer. A lawyer for DeSantis this week argued the 2022 map was “distorted by considerations of race” and questioned the legality of the state’s ban on partisan redistricting.
Challenges to the map are expected to be considered by the Florida Supreme Court, which is dominated by DeSantis appointees and has upheld the 2022 map.
Other litigation is affecting maps around the country. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday will give Republicans a chance to draw new districts in one or more states now, and many more for the 2028 elections.
Separately, the Virginia Supreme Court is considering challenges to the new map there, putting four new districts that favor Democrats at risk.
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