FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — One of Florida’s most prominent Black elected Democrats, state Sen. Shevrin Jones, said Monday that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to cut in half the number of Florida congressional districts with boundaries crafted to maximize the chance of electing Black representatives is a “racist tactic.”
Jones spoke at a news conference he organized in Miami’s Little Haiti on the eve of the special Florida legislative session on congressional redistricting. After he and others voiced intense opposition to the proposed changes, Jones also conceded they can’t be stopped.
The senator predicted that on Wednesday the Republican majority in the Florida House and Senate will give DeSantis what he wants.
“I’m not gonna call what you’re doing a culture war anymore. I’m gonna call it just what it is. It’s a racist tactic that you’re doing, and you know what you’re doing,” Jones said.
“That’s why we’re standing here today. We’re not standing here because it’s cute to stand up at home to call you out. But we’re standing here to let you know that it might just be a few of us up here, but we will make sure that this message resounds across the state of Florida, that in November — and this is a threat — that in November, we will ensure that you’re no longer the governor of Florida, because when you come for one of us you come for all of us. And we will not allow you to dilute our districts’ representation for your own political gain. You lose,” Jones said.
Others at the news conference said the Republican governor was the one playing racial politics on the question of congressional districts and many of his other policy priorities.
“I don’t know how many acts of racism one has to do to become a racist, but let’s just say if this was a video game, he would be going for the high score. All right. I’m not saying this to be hyperbolic. I’m not saying this to be provocative. He’s giving you the receipts,” said Dwight Bullard, a former Democratic state senator and senior political advisor of the Florida Rising advocacy group.
Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, declined to comment on the Democrats’ comments. “We won’t be responding to unsubstantiated allegations from partisan critics. Governor DeSantis is focused on Florida and has never indicated he is running for any office besides governor.” She referenced previous statements from the governor’s office, detailing what he saw as defects in the Legislature’s proposal for congressional redistricting, and why he vetoed it as constitutionally defective.
Also on Monday, the League of Women Voters of Florida sharply criticized the rush to approve the governor’s plan, though it took a different approach from the Democrats and allied groups.
The League lamented the legislative leaders stated intention of going along with the governor, which the organization characterized as the Legislature ceding its responsibility in an “unprecedented abdication.”
“The Legislature’s irresponsible plan to capitulate to the aggression of the governor nullifies the constitutionally mandated separation of the three branches of government and is moving in the direction of an autocracy,” Cecile Scoon, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said in a written statement.
Congressional districts in all states with more than one member of Congress are changing this year to reflect population changes uncovered in the 2020 census. DeSantis vetoed the state Legislature’s plan for congressional districts, which would have preserved four districts drawn to enhance chances of electing Black lawmakers. His alternative plan, almost certain to pass this week, would eliminate two of those districts, and maintain two, both in South Florida.
Under mid-1980s revisions to the federal Voting Rights Act, congressional boundaries have been drawn with a goal of increasing the chance that someone from a minority group can win an election and bring a voice that otherwise wouldn’t be heard to the halls of Congress. It immediately produced results: In 1992, Florida elected its first Black members of Congress since 1877, when the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction ended.
But DeSantis said the Legislature’s proposed continuation of a north Florida district, stretching from Tallahassee to Jacksonville and currently represented by Democrat Al Lawson, violated the Constitution and was racially gerrymandered.
There’s a partisan, Republican-versus-Democrat issue playing out as well. Florida currently sends 16 Republicans and 11 Democrats to Washington. The state gains a seat because of its higher-than-average population growth over a decade. The DeSantis plan would likely result in 20 Republican and eight Democratic districts.
Florida is much more closely divided than that would indicate. Former President Donald Trump won the state by 3.3 percentage points in 2020 and DeSantis won by 0.4 of a percentage point in 2018.
Regardless of what happens this week, the issue will end up in court. That could mean the disputed map would be used in the 2022, and possibly 2024 elections, before there is any resolution.
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