TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville gave heavy pushback after Florida lawmakers approved a new congressional map that could help Republicans retain control of the House in the midterm elections.
Take a look: How the proposal from Gov. DeSantis would change Florida’s congressional district map
The Florida Legislature passed Governor Ron DeSantis’ redistricting proposal on Wednesday after debate that included protests from Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville.
“I had to disrupt the House proceedings yet again because they were trying to push through illegally drawn maps,” Nixon said.
Nixon said it would diminish the representation of other voter demographics.
“This is a slap in the face of voters everywhere in our state and Republicans are only doing this so that they can look out for Donald Trump and allow him to have unfettered power,” Nixon said.
Supporters of the plan say the new lines are driven by partisan politics, not race. That distinction could matter more after the high court’s Louisiana ruling, which legal experts say changes how strictly states must consider race when drawing congressional districts.
Rod Sullivan, a constitutional lawyer, said that for decades, there was a common assumption that congressional districts should reflect minority population levels more directly.
“Since about 1983, there’s been a presumption by the Department of Justice and many states that you needed to draw congressional districts based upon the minority population in the state,” Sullivan said.
He said the court’s decision signaled that states are not required to maintain strict proportionality between minority populations and congressional districts.
“What the Supreme Court did is it changed that and it said from now on, you do not have to have a strict proportionality between race and congressional districts,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said some Florida maps have faced claims of racial gerrymandering in the past. He argued that the proposal backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis is more likely to be viewed as political gerrymandering — a type of mapmaking that courts have generally been less willing to police.
“What will more likely happen as a result of this Louisiana ruling is that the new congressional districts that are being proposed by Governor DeSantis will be very difficult to challenge because they’re not based on race, they’re based upon politics,” Sullivan said. “The Supreme Court has said that politics is something that legislatures can consider and that race can only be considered in very narrow circumstances.”
Still, Nixon said in a video posted to Facebook that the proposed districts would weaken representation in Black, Latino and Jewish communities. She called the plan a “slap in the face” to voters.
Sullivan said the political balance of a delegation can shift under new lines even if minority representation does not change dramatically.
Florida is among the last states moving forward with mid-decade redistricting, a process pushed by President Donald Trump and the White House since last year.
The debate is likely to continue. Florida is expected to gain additional congressional seats after the 2030 census, meaning decisions made now could influence the state’s political landscape for year