Paul Renner says congressional redistricting ‘justified’ as questions loom about the path forward

Republican candidate for Governor Paul Renner is backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push for the Legislature to draw new congressional maps, even as state lawmakers still lack guidance from the executive branch just days before a planned Special Session.

Renner said during an interview with Spectrum News that redistricting Florida’s 28 seats in the U.S. House is “justified because we’re growing so rapidly.”

“If you have the one person, one vote assessment, you’ve got to make sure that those seats are roughly equal. That’s already changed because of the millions of people that have come in since 2020. So I think it’s an appropriate exercise,” Renner said.

Renner noted that Florida has Fair Districts amendments in the constitution and expressed confidence that the maps will “look normal when we’re done.” That’s despite the fact that lawmakers aren’t working on maps and the Governor, who also bemoans so-called malapportionment, hasn’t released any plans either.

DeSantis hedged on whether legislators ultimately will return to Tallahassee next week to mull new maps, saying Tuesday that they’ve “got to get it done probably within the next couple of weeks.” The congressional qualifying deadline is now noon on June 12, having been moved to accommodate the prospective redistricting.

But lawmakers say they remain in the dark.

“The Senate is not drafting a map for introduction during the Special Session. We are awaiting a communication from the Governor,” a spokesperson for Senate President Ben Albritton wrote in an email to Florida Politics.

DeSantis said as far back as last year that Florida’s congressional map doesn’t reflect current reality, given in-migration to the state during the pandemic.

In 2022, DeSantis’ Office drew Florida’s congressional map, one approved by lawmakers after DeSantis vetoed a map produced by the Legislature during the Regular Session.

The current congressional map has 20 Republicans in Congress, up from 15 before. The state gained a seat in reapportionment, taking the state from a 15-12 split to a 20-8 GOP advantage.

DeSantis also said he thought Florida could have as many as five more seats under maps he said “gypped” the state in favor of “blue states” that he believes count “illegal aliens” as part of the metric. But President Donald Trump’s administration did not move to give Florida more seats in the nearly 15 months it has been in office.

An expected Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which DeSantis believes will invalidate minority-access districts and necessitate a new map affecting the 2026 cycle, was the stated reason for the Special Session when it was called in January. However, the malapportionment argument has been held up as parallel justification as the Supreme Court has delayed a ruling.

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Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics contributed to this report.