Gov. DeSantis calls April Special Legislative Session to tackle congressional redistricting

Florida’s congressional redistricting will come after the regular legislative session ends, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.

“We are going to do it in the later part of April, partially because there’s a Supreme Court decision that’s going to affect the validity of some of these districts nationwide, including some of the districts in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, alluding to Louisiana v. Callais early next year. That case could overturn prohibitions against racial gerrymandering and invalidate districts drawn to protect minority access.

This April timetable accords with DeSantis’ repeated assertions that he expects redistricting “this spring,” a move that could further cement GOP domination of the Congressional delegation and that could maintain a Republican House next year,

The state currently has a 20-8 Republican advantage in the Congressional delegation, with a map his office drew and coerced the Legislature into voting up after he nixed its first work product. He previously credited that map with the current GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He is confident that the map could be even more Republican, noting that Florida’s “population has changed so much in the last 4 or 5 years.”

“We need to get apportioned properly and people deserve equal representation. And so we look forward to being able to work with the legislature to get that across the finish line,” DeSantis said.

He previously said he thought Florida could have as many as five more seats under maps he deemed “gypped” the state in favor of “blue states” that allegedly count “illegal aliens” as part of the metric.

While it’s unclear whether the Donald Trump administration will give Florida more Congressional seats, Florida creating more Republican positions would serve the President’s interests. He has worried that a Democratic House would impeach him.

A new map could push the GOP advantage further.

Potential Democratic targets include Florida’s 9th Congressional District in Orlando, represented currently by Darren Soto, and Florida’s 14th Congressional District in Tampa, represented by Kathy Castor.

Several South Florida seats could also be in flux.

These include Florida’s 20th Congressional District, where Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick serves, and Florida’s 22nd, 23rd and 24th Congressional Districts, represented by Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz and Frederica Wilson, respectively.