Count Florida in for the national redistricting rush.

House Speaker Daniel Perez says state lawmakers will work on redrawing Florida’s congressional district lines ahead of the 2026 Midterms.

The Miami Republican said provisions in the Florida Supreme Court’s July ruling upholding Florida’s current congressional map demand attention from lawmakers.

“Here in Florida, our state supreme court’s recent decision in Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Inc. v. Secretary, Florida Department of State, raises important and distinct questions about the applicability and interpretation of certain provisions of the so-called ‘Fair Districts’ provisions of the Florida Constitution and their intersection with Federal law,” Perez wrote in a memo to House members.

“Exploring these questions now, at the mid-decade point, would potentially allow us to seek legal guidance from our Supreme Court without the uncertainty associated with deferring those questions until after the next decennial census and reapportionment.”

The ruling said language approved in a constitutional amendment in 2012 prohibiting the diminishment of minority voting power actually resulted in the creation of a district drawn with race as a motivating factor, thus running counter to the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

While presented as a legal exploration of the court decision, that also means a chance for Republican supermajorities to draw lines in a way that increases the number of GOP leaning seats in the state. Currently, Florida’s U.S. House delegation includes 20 Republicans and eight Democrats.

Perez said the House will name a Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting in September, at the same time as other committee assignments for the 2026 Legislative Session. House members looking to sit on the panel should inform the Speaker’s office of interest by Aug. 15. But anyone hoping the job leads to a promotion to D.C. need not apply.

“Please be advised that we will not be appointing to the select committee anyone who has expressed an interest in running for Congress,” he said.

That’s consistent with redistricting in 2022, when Speaker Chris Sprowls in 2022 removed two lawmakers from a redistricting subcommittee amid rumors they intended to run for Congress.

Notably, this puts Perez in the same position as Gov. Ron DeSantis in a desire to redraw Florida’s congressional lines. The Governor has hinted at calling the Legislature into a Special Session on the topic.

This marks a high-profile area of agreement between DeSantis and Perez, who have feuded in the past year on immigration policy, property taxes and government oversight matters.

Of note, the Florida Constitution requires the Legislature to review and redraw all legislative lines following the decennial census. It neither demands nor prohibits a redistricting process to be undertaken otherwise.

DeSantis also wants a new census, which he believes will result in Florida being awarded at least one more U.S. House seat. That could be more difficult as some states, notably Texas, have already started the process of redistricting with existing data. President Donald Trump did take the first steps on Thursday toward holding a new census, though he offered no timeline on its completion.

To date, Senate President Ben Albritton has not weighed in on whether Florida should redraw the lines, and his office declined to comment on Perez’s memo.

The last redistricting process in Florida generated significant friction between DeSantis and the Legislature. The Governor vetoed the maps originally approved by lawmakers that had carefully been drafted based on the Supreme Court’s prior interpretation of the “Fair Districts” amendment. DeSantis wanted to challenge those, and ultimately pressured the Legislature to approve a map his office drew.

Importantly, DeSantis largely redrew only the North and Central Florida portions of the map while leaving the Legislature’s plans for South Florida in place, including several seats heavily populated by Black and Hispanic racial majorities.

With that map in place in 2022, Republicans picked up four U.S. House seats in Florida.

Perez wrote in his memo that anyone who has expressed a hope a new map “favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party.”

Democrats in the Legislature cried foul at Perez’s move.

“Not good, Florida Republican Leadership are launching a ‘Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting’ to redraw and gerrymander maps again,” posted Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat. “We will do everything we can to push back.”

On the Senate side, Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Miami Gardens Democrat, also sounded alarms.

“Florida, don’t sleep,” he posted. “Texas just gutted fair representation with redistricting—and now Florida is eyeing the same playbook. This ain’t about fairness, it’s about control.”

Of note, while the recent Florida Supreme Court ruling adopted DeSantis’ read on race as a factor on redistricting, it was silent on the topic of whether the Legislature can consider partisan advantages when drawing the lines. The Fair Districts amendment also prohibited the consideration of helping or hurting a particular political party or individual politicians.

Perez did stress that he has no interest in redrawing Florida’s legislative lines for members of the Florida House and Senate.

“It is important to acknowledge that while this may be an opportunity, it is not an expected one, and we do not have the capacity to engage in the full redistricting process experienced during the 2020-2022 term,” he wrote. “Thus, we will focus our inquiry on the Congressional map, which was the subject of the recent Florida Supreme Court case, and any relevant legal questions.”

Post Views: 0