Florida to enter the Republican gerrymander scrum following Trump's orders. Will state become even more politically unbalanced?

News and views for thoughtful Floridians and other Americans

One of the (many) weird things about America is that while we tend to think of it as a unified nation, it is, by design, a collection of states that enjoy many independent prerogatives.

Among those rights is how the individual states decide to carve up their maps to determine the districts from which congressional representatives are elected.

They’re generally free to do so as they wish, so long as, among other things:

• The districts have about the same number of people in them.

• And they are not drawn up in such a way as to racially disenfranchise voters.

What the Constitution does not prohibit is gerrymandering—that is, the practice of drawing political boundaries that favor one party or another.

Which is how Republicans in the Florida Legislature, working with a Republican governor, recently redrew our congressional districts, the result of which is that Florida’s 28-member delegation has 20 Republicans and only 8 Democrats.

Meaning 70 percent of our representation in Washington is by Republicans, even though only 38 percent of the state’s voters are registered with the G.O.P.

Partly that is because the number of people belonging to minor political parties and who register as independents (known in Florida as No Party Affiliation) dilutes those figures, as you can see in this chart:

But even if you only take the Democratic and Republican numbers, since only Democrats and Republicans hold elective office, then from that pool of 9,614,092 voters, the Republican/Democratic split is 57 percent versus 43 percent. Meaning Republicans are vastly overrepresented due to gerrymandering.

Which is legal.

And this is the map you get:

And this map is only about three years old, because Gov. Ron DeSantis called the Legislature into special session to redraw it to give Republicans more of an edge than they already enjoyed.

Before this new map, there were 16 Republicans and 11 Democrats representing Florida in Congress. And after an extra congressional seat was added because of population growth, the upshot was Republicans gained 4 seats, and Democrats lost 3.

If you’re a Republican, you likely think that’s swell, even though it clearly is not representative of the state’s voter registration.

But that’s not good enough for some Republicans, however.

President Donald Trump is terrified he’s going to lose the G.O.P.’s narrow 219-213 edge in the House of Representatives, so he’s instructed his red state minions, including DeSantis, to gerrymander some more.

And you’ve read all about that: How Texas added five new Republican districts, and how the courts threw them out, and how the Supreme Court now has that on its docket.

And how California, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, to offset Texas, did the same thing, only favoring Democrats.

And even though Florida’s current congressional map, which clearly favors the G.O.P. already, is only a few years old, the Legislature is about to redraw the lines again, bowing to Trump’s demands.

The Florida House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting—comprising eight Republicans and only three Democrats—is scheduled to convene next month to get the ball rolling.

Democracy Docket has this to say about that:

The scheduled meeting follows months of mounting pressure from President Donald Trump, who has urged GOP-led states to pursue aggressive mid-cycle redraws as part of a broader strategy to secure House control in 2026. Florida will join Texas, Missouri and North Carolina responding to that call.

The process also comes on the heels of a Florida Supreme Court decision that upheld a congressional map endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — even as the court acknowledged it weakens Black electoral power.

Democrats warned the move could undermine representation for communities that have already faced repeated legal battles over discriminatory maps.

“Trump and Congressional Republicans know they’re on track to lose the House in 2026. Florida is now the latest state where Republicans are admitting they can’t win without cheating,” Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D) said following the committee reveal. “We will be coordinating closely with House and Senate Democrats in Tallahassee to fight this power grab. While GOP-led states take their orders from Trump, every Democratic-led state needs to follow California’s lead and redraw their own maps.”

The committee will meet during the Legislature’s interim week, with no public draft maps released yet and limited guidance on what changes lawmakers plan to pursue.

Stay tuned.

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Today is …

November 25 is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. “Violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world,” according to the sponsors of this event. “Globally, almost one in three women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their life.”

Timely to note: This commemoration arrives just after Congress ordered the release of the Epstein Files, in case we needed a further reminder of how serious this issue is.

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J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. Forward this email to your friends. They will love you for it.

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