Florida’s Republican governor signs state’s new congressional map into law | Florida

Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a new gerrymandered congressional district map that gives Republicans an electoral advantage in four additional races in November’s midterm elections.

“Signed, Sealed and Delivered,” DeSantis said. to mail In X, a map of new regions has been added.

With the stroke of a pen, DeSantis, a Republican, did more to determine the outcome of Florida’s congressional elections than any other political operative or field organizer in the state. The new map slices through areas around Miami, Orlando and Tampa Bay.

In an example of the impact of mid-decade redistricting, mapmakers reliably concentrated Democratic voters around Orlando into a single district, forcing Democratic representatives Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost to compete for the same voters.

Conversely, the new map splits the Tampa Bay area from two to three districts, somewhat favoring the 13th district for Republicans currently held by ardent Trump supporter and influential congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, while weakening a left-leaning district for Democrats held by congresswoman Kathy Castor.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee, lost her seat. Miami Democrats are squeezed into three narrow districts along the coast.

Florida’s current delegation includes 20 Republicans and eight Democrats.

Criticisms of redistricting have come from both the right and the left. Democrats accuse DeSantis of violating the state constitution, which includes a plain-language ban on public mandates on partisan gerrymandering. Republicans fear that an aggressive redraw would endanger at least as many Republican representatives as Florida preserves and could backfire.