Ron DeSantis still expects Congressional redistricting

With roughly two months to go until legislators begin the 2026 Legislative Session, Gov. Ron DeSantis reminds them that he still expects a new Congressional map as part of their work.

“Stay tuned,” he posted to social media Thursday night, responding to a post paraphrasing House Speaker Daniel Perez’s position that redistricting is “not planned.”

Gary Fineout of POLITICO reports that the exact Perez quote was that there was” no plan yet.”

“We’re not there yet. We haven’t had that discussion yet,” Perez said. “Redistricting hasn’t been a conversation that we’ve had yet.”

DeSantis has asserted repeatedly that he expects redistricting “this spring,” a move that would further cement GOP domination of the Congressional delegation. 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.

How many seats Florida might have remains an open question, at least in DeSantis’ eyes.

He has 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 large-scale reapportionment may not happen quickly enough to give Florida more seats, there is still a mechanism in the House to drive the conversation. However, the Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting has yet to meet, and currently has no Committee meetings scheduled.

DeSantis also weighed in overnight on the federal Department of Justice’s objections to California’s redistricting process, which is intended to favor Democrats, as the redistricting process in Florida favors Republicans. DOJ alleges that race is a primary consideration.

“Courts could nix the CA map on racial gerrymandering grounds, but I bet CA will just say the intent was to partisan gerrymander,” DeSantis posted.