The Democrats were just dealt another massive midterm blow in court that destroyed their gerrymandering scheme.
In April 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ new congressional map was approved.
The new map created 20 Republican seats and eight Democratic ones. Districts created by the new map were based on the data from the most recent census and 2020 electoral results.
“We are not going to have a 200-mile gerrymander that divvies up people based on the color of their skin. That is wrong. That’s not the way we’ve governed in the state of Florida. And obviously, that will be litigated,” said DeSantis said in response to the criticism of his map.
The map was immediately challenged because the map wiped gerrymandering gains the Democrats made in states like New York and Illinois. However, the Florida Supreme court has made the new map the law of the land.
From Politico:
The state Supreme Court — in a 4-1 divided ruling in which two justices recused themselves — declined to wade into an ongoing legal dispute over the map. Voting and civil rights groups opposed to the GOP-approved redistricting map asked the state high court to block it in late May. They argue the redistricting maps violate Florida’s Fair Districts provisions, or anti-gerrymandering amendments in the state constitution.
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The high court’s ruling comes just two weeks before candidates must qualify for this year’s elections, meaning that the legal challenge won’t be resolved in time for a different map to be in place for the 2022 elections. Florida’s primary will be held on Aug. 23.
It also freezes in place for now a new congressional map for the nation’s third-largest state that will likely give Republicans a potential 20-8 advantage in a state where the GOP has only a slight voter registration advantage. This is another big blow to Democrats’ hopes of holding onto their majority in the U.S. House.
Make no mistake that was a big hit to Democrats who were trying to wipe out red districts in blue states in order to keep the House.
