Republicans in The Sunshine State currently have a 20-8 advantage over Democrats in the state's congressional delegation. Now, thanks to Democrats declaring a redistricting war, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez has announced the chamber will take up redistricting this fall through a special committee.
Keith Gross, an attorney and former U.S. Senate candidate, tells AFN he predicts a lot of congressional districts can be redrawn to ensure the “high probability” a Republican represents that district. Right now, he says, Republicans have a 1.2 million registration advantage over Democrats.
“That makes it pretty easy, honestly,” Gross says, “to ensure that Republicans get the vast majority, if not all, of the congressional districts in their favor."
In the 2022 gubernatorial race, Gov. Ron DeSantis won a second term with a 59%-40% trouncing of Charlie Crist, his Democrat challenger. About 1.5 million votes separated the two candidates, and DeSantis famously flipped Democrat strongholds such as Miami-Dade County, Osceola, and Palm Beach.
In last year’s presidential election, Donald Trump won Florida and its 30 electoral votes with a 56%-43% win over Kamala Harris. About 1.4 million votes separated Trump and Harris.
Among the 50 U.S. states, Florida currently ranks third behind California and Texas in the number of congressional seats. After the 2020 census, Florida gained one congressional seat but California – for the first time ever – lost two seats due to people fleeing for better opportunities elsewhere.
Looking across the country, Gross says he’s grateful Republicans are finally fighting back in redistricting fights. Democrats have been blatantly gerrymandering for years to protect their own party, he says, giving them an unfair advantage in blue states.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is currently leading an effort there to redraw the state's congressional lines. That effort means he is ignoring a nonpartisan state committee that redraws congressional districts.
“Now they're upset because Republicans are finally pushing back and saying, ‘Well, if that's how you're going to draw your maps, we need to respond in kind,’” he says. “Otherwise we are unilaterally disarmed, and we're tired of seeing the Democrats walk all over us."
