Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been in a pitched battle with his Republican legislature for weeks over his desire for a new gerrymander that eliminates Democratic House seats with large Black representation. On Monday, the legislature gave in, ceding the map drafting to DeSantis.
DeSantis vetoed an unusual “two-map” bill that had one option that would have carved up the 5th District, held by Democratic Rep. Al Lawson Jr. It was created last time around by the state Supreme Court during redistricting litigation and has a large Black population: about 43%. The map presented to DeSantis back in February would have a 35% Black population. In case that map didn’t pass muster with the state constitution, the legislation had a backup map that preserved the 5th District but made changes elsewhere and still shuffled the population into 18 Trump districts and 10 Biden districts. DeSantis rejected that plan, insistent on obliterating this and another heavily Black and Democratic district, the 10th.
Now the legislature has given up. Senate President Wilton Simpson and state House Speaker Chris Sprowls released a statement Monday indicating that the “Legislative reapportionment staff is not drafting or producing a map for introduction during the special session.” They essentially handed the project over to DeSantis, regardless of their responsibility for redistricting under the state constitution.
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“We are awaiting a communication from the Governor’s Office with a map that he will support. Our intention is to provide the Governor’s Office opportunities to present that information before House and Senate redistricting committees,” they continued. “We look forward to working with you next week as we complete our constitutional obligation for the 2022 redistricting process.”
Lawson blasted them for “caving to the intimidation of DeSantis and his desire to create additional Republican seats in Congress by eliminating minority-access districts.”
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A map already drafted by DeSantis would eliminate the 5th District as well as the 10th, another Democratic district represented by Val Demings. About 28% of its population is Black. That map, critics and the legislature said, is a clear violation of the state constitution’s Fair Districts amendment, passed by voters in 2010. It requires lawmakers to give minority communities the ability to “elect representatives of their choice.”
That could be precisely what DeSantis has in mind: using the current makeup of both the state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to overthrow the state amendment and the federal Voting Rights Act, or what’s left of it after previous Supreme Court eviscerations. That’s what state Rep. Joseph Geller, the ranking Democrat on the House redistricting committee, told The Washington Post is going on.
Cecile Scoon, president of the League of Women Voters Florida, condemned the legislature’s cowardice. “It’s very disappointing to see them folding their cards and abdicating their high and honorable responsibility of creating a congressional map,” Scoon said. “They want to stay on the good side of a powerful leader. People are afraid to cross him.”
A former prominent Republican strategist in the state who left the party after Trump was elected had strong words. Mac Stipanovich condemned the state Republicans for “prostrating themselves” for DeSantis. “The legislature has abdicated its responsibility, the leaders in the Republican Party in the legislature have abandoned all principle. It’s just all about maintaining and acquiring power and holding on to office,” said Stipanovich. “What we’re witnessing is a mile marker on the road to one-man rule in Florida, at least for the time being.
“This decision is a function of two things by Republicans. Their ambition, and their fear of being primaried,” Stipanovich said. “DeSantis is as powerful in Florida as Trump was and still is among Republicans nationally. When that sort of thing happens, this is what you get. Gutless, spineless, sycophancy.”