ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the GOP Legislature’s congressional maps Tuesday, making good his threats to reject the plan because it does not eliminate a Black district in North Florida.
DeSantis, a Republican, called for a special session to work out the issue, which legislative leaders have already penciled in for April 19 to 22.
“I don’t see how they come to a deal without someone caving in a spectacular fashion,” elections expert Matt Isbell wrote on Twitter.
District 5, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, was created as a Black access district under the federal Voting Rights Act. But DeSantis has called the district, which stretches from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, “an unconstitutional gerrymander.”
The House and Senate’s approved map was itself a compromise after initially being at odds.
The Senate’s version mostly kept U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy’s and Val Demings’ seats intact, giving Republicans a 16-12 advantage in Congress. The House’s map turned Murphy’s seat more Republican and Demings’ seat more white, giving Republicans an 18-10 advantage. Both are retiring from Congress, with Demings running for U.S. Senate.
In the end, the Senate went along with the House’s map and radically changed Central Florida’s seats.
The final map approved by the Legislature included a redrawn District 5 in North Florida, this time entirely within Duval County.
Despite the district being drawn more compactly, it remained a narrowly Democratic-leaning district. And that was not good enough for DeSantis.
DeSantis has been under pressure from conservative media to give Republicans more seats in Congress, where the GOP needs just six of them in the November election to take back control of the House. DeSantis’ map would give Republicans a 20-8 advantage in seats in Florida.
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