FL Redistricting: Florida's recent round of court-ordered redistricting has scrambled the state's congressional map, and almost every seat has been altered in some way. To help keep things straight, Stephen Wolf has created an interactive Google Map of the new districts, and we’ve put together a table showing what portions of Florida’s 2012-2014 congressional districts make up each new seat. (This spreadsheet can be a little tricky to interpret, so we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to help you read it.)
There are many interesting observations to be made. For starters, Republican Rep. Dan Webster is truly a man without a district. His old seat has been scattered to the winds, with pieces of it ending up in five separate districts. Small chunks now form parts of the new FL-06, FL-07, FL-09, and FL-11, while the largest segment (but still just a plurality of Webster’s old seat) has become part of what is now the solidly blue 10th District—a seat he could never hope to win.
As a result, Webster has floated the idea of seeking re-election in either FL-06 or FL-11, both of which are open, but he currently represents just 8 percent of the former and 18 percent of the latter. That’s not much of a leg up when it comes to name recognition or political power.
Democrat Corrine Brown’s seat also has been dramatically transformed. Brown is considering running in the new 5th, which is home to her Jacksonville base. However, Brown only represents 38 percent of the new seat, while 32 percent comes from Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham’s 2nd District, and 24 comes from Republican Rep. Ander Crenshaw’s 4th. Brown is also mulling a run in the 10th, which is based around Orlando. Brown represents a plurality of that new seat, but only 40 percent of the district’s residents are currently her constituents.
This is just a sampling, though. In total, 25 of Florida’s 27 districts have seen edits, ranging from small to severe. Check out our full chart for the complete picture.