{"id":22633,"date":"2026-05-13T18:17:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/florida-defends-new-congressional-map-says-it-lacks-signs-of-partisan-gerrymandering\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:17:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:17:45","slug":"florida-defends-new-congressional-map-says-it-lacks-signs-of-partisan-gerrymandering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/florida-defends-new-congressional-map-says-it-lacks-signs-of-partisan-gerrymandering\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida defends new congressional map, says it lacks ‘signs’ of partisan gerrymandering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

TALLAHASSEE, Florida \u2014 Florida is pushing back against assertions that the state\u2019s new congressional map was drawn to help Republicans<\/a>, arguing in a new legal filing that other states such as Virginia and Illinois have engaged in much more blatant partisan gerrymandering.<\/p>\n

Voting rights and civil rights groups have filed multiple lawsuits challenging a new map pushed into law by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. They have argued that the map, which could result in Republicans picking up four seats, is a clear violation of voter approved anti-gerrymandering standards and \u201cone of the most extreme congressional maps\u201d enacted in the past 50 years.<\/p>\n

A circuit court judge will hold a hearing Friday on whether to temporarily block the new map and instead let the state\u2019s old congressional map \u2014 which was also recommended by the DeSantis administration back in 2022<\/a> \u2014 be used for the midterms. The 2022 map gave Republicans a 20-8 edge.<\/p>\n

Lawyers representing the state filed their response Wednesday<\/a>and made several arguments \u2014 some of them procedural \u2014 as to why the new map should be allowed to remain in place. They argue, for example, that it\u2019s too close to the August primary to undo the map approved just two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

But the 29-page filing also insists those challenging the map have produced \u201cscant evidence\u201d to back their claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe claim of partisan favoritism is tethered only to maps showing the district lines overlayed onto the results of a few elections, hearsay from their supposed experts, thoughts about tweets, their perspective on Fox News coverage, and a single factual representation from the governor\u2019s map drawer,\u201d the lawyers for the governor and state wrote.<\/p>\n

They also asserted that \u201cfinally, on its face, Florida\u2019s map lacks the telltale signs of a partisan gerrymander\u201d and contrasted that with maps put in place in Democratic states that include \u201cblue spaghetti\u201d and \u201cpartisan thunderbolts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s \u201cFair Districts\u201d standards prohibit redrawing congressional districts for partisan gain or to help or hurt an incumbent. Democrats and other critics have insisted the new map is \u201cillegal\u201d because it violates these standards. The map, for example, reconfigured districts in the Tampa Bay and Orlando area \u2014 including splitting off Hispanic voters that had been in the district now held by Democratic Rep. Darren Soto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Florida Legislature approved the new map in late April<\/a> just days after the DeSantis administration submitted it to lawmakers after it was given first to Fox News. During a legislative hearing, a top aide to the governor acknowledged he relied on partisan data.<\/p>\n

But in a legal memorandum, the governor\u2019s general counsel argued the state no longer needs to follow \u201cFair Districts\u201d because of a state Supreme Court ruling on another portion of the amendment. That argument is also in the state\u2019s filing that calls \u201cFair Districts\u201d unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger is apparent: Allowing a law to stumble along after a court has excised some of its component parts undermines the entire legislative scheme,\u201d states the filing. \u201cThe danger becomes more acute when confronting language \u2014 as here \u2014 adopted by citizen initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s legal filing further contends a trial is needed first to establish where there is proof that the map was drawn for partisan gain. The state\u2019s lawyers argue top aide Jason Poreda was never asked what types of partisan data he used or how it was used. They also dispute findings from experts about the potential outcomes of the new map.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump and the White House first started urging GOP-led states to engage in mid-decade redistricting last year. Shortly afterward, DeSantis began calling for changes<\/a> in Florida\u2019s map as well. He said that one South Florida district relied on racial considerations that were likely to be ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and the state\u2019s population has grown in the past few years. The new map, however, still relies on the same Census data that was used in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Florida \u2014 Florida is pushing back against assertions that the state\u2019s new congressional map was drawn to help Republicans, arguing in a new legal filing that other states such as Virginia and Illinois have engaged in much more blatant partisan gerrymandering. Voting rights and civil rights groups have filed multiple lawsuits challenging a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}