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Gov. Ron DeSantis released his proposed newly redrawn map of the state’s congressional districts on Monday, one that aims to add four Republican leaning seat to the 20 (out of 28) already represented by Republicans in Florida.

The governor released the map first to Fox News before sending to lawmakers an hour later.

“They are erasing Democratic representation all across the state,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell said in a Zoom conference call. “It’s clearly so partisan. They are contorting the data, they are contorting the Constitution, to try to do this.”

Florida’s Fair District Amendments say that no individual district can be drawn “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.”

However, DeSantis claims in a letter sent by his general counsel to Florida lawmakers that federal protections for minority-access districts are likely unconstitutional and that the state’s anti-gerrymandering laws should be bypassed.

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“The people of Florida have been deprived of appropriate representation in the U.S. House of Representatives,” wrote David Axelman, the general counsel for Gov. DeSantis.

“Despite substantial population growth since the 2010 census, which catapulted Florida to the third most populous state in the nation, Florida gained only one additional seat in the House after the 2020 census. However, a post-census survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau demonstrated that Florida was shortchanged by more than 760,000 people. This undercount cost Florida at least one additional House seat.”

The governor’s office also contends in his letter that Florida’s existing congressional map “has been distorted by considerations of race,” referring to language in the Fair District Amendments requiring that “districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.”

The letter specifically cites Congressional District 20 in South Florida as drawn in 2022 to conform with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).

“The proposed congressional map that the [Executive office of the Governor] now submits does not take race into consideration at all,” says the letter. “Race was neither a predominant factor nor one of many factors. And because race was never considered, the map also makes no attempt to adhere to the race-based requirements of the [Fair District Amendments]. Because those provisions require consideration of race in the drawing of congressional districts, they cannot satisfy strict scrutiny and are unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Awaiting SCOTUS Ruling

For months, DeSantis has insisted the Legislature would be “forced” to redistrict because of an expected ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case from Louisiana. The........

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