Florida passes redistricting plan to create 4 GOP-leaning House seats

Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature on Wednesday approved a new congressional map to help the GOP pick up four more seats in the state, according to media reports.

The outcome is a significant win for both Governor Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump after Trump kicked off a mid-decade redistricting scramble across the country last year.

The new map also likely to trigger a legal battle that could take place in both state and federal courts, according to Politico.

Florida’s Republican lawmakers pushed through the redistricting map submitted by DeSantis just two days earlier, even as they were still processing the state Supreme Court’s ruling issued Wednesday.

The Senate briefly paused to examine the decision, with several members reading it on their laptops.

Despite some dissent from a small group of GOP senators, the map ultimately passed largely along party lines, with an 83-28 vote in favor.

Democrats argued it was unlawful, saying it violated Florida’s voter-approved anti-gerrymandering rules.

However, some Republicans said they were convinced by legal arguments from DeSantis’s team claiming those standards no longer applied.

“I don’t think we should do gerrymandering on the basis of political partisanship, and I don’t think there’s evidence this map does this,” state Sen. Don Gaetz defended the map.

“You are destroying democracy with this vote,” said state Rep. Fentrice Driskell, the House Democratic leader, during floor debate.