{"id":243006,"date":"2026-04-23T09:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243006\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:18:10","slug":"republicans-pressure-ron-desantis-to-redistrict-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243006\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans pressure Ron DeSantis to redistrict in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Senior Republicans in Washington are ramping up the pressure on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to redraw his state\u2019s US House map after Virginia Democrats flipped potentially four seats<\/a> in their favor.\n <\/p>\n

\n With just six months until the midterms, Republicans see Florida as their last major chance to make gains in the redistricting war President Donald Trump launched last summer<\/a>. They hope to pick up as many as three seats in the Sunshine State, which would give Republicans back their slight advantage from redistricting, though much smaller than they\u2019d once hoped. With Tuesday\u2019s referendum passing in Virginia<\/a>, Democrats are estimated to have drawn 10 seats in their favor<\/a> nationwide compared to the Republicans\u2019 nine.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFlorida has the right and the intention to do it. And my view is that they should,\u201d Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. Asked if the Florida legislators should redraw the state\u2019s maps before the midterms, Johnson said: \u201cYes, absolutely.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n A special session to consider redistricting in Florida is slated to start Tuesday, but no map has been publicly released. A DeSantis spokesperson did not respond to a CNN inquiry about its status.\n <\/p>\n

\n Key Republicans involved in redistricting say they\u2019ve been kept largely in the dark on DeSantis\u2019 plans. There\u2019s no coordination on the state level because of strict state rules around partisan gerrymandering, and no maps have been officially circulated within Florida\u2019s congressional delegation either.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey\u2019re just kind of firing up the software now and seeing what they can draw, but it doesn\u2019t seem like anyone has a plan,\u201d someone close to DeSantis\u2019 inner circle told CNN earlier this week. \u201cThey know they have to do something, but everyone is hoping we don\u2019t get too greedy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rep. Kat Cammack told CNN she is eager to see Florida Republicans redraw their maps and believes the GOP could pick up two or three seats and still \u201cmaintain compactness and fairness.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But she also warned her party not to go too far: \u201cI think that we get into some dangerous territory if we\u2019re seriously considering five.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Cammack is one of eight Florida Republicans that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries specifically pledged to \u201caggressively target for defeat\u201d if the state GOP advances a new map. (To that threat, she responded: \u201cBring it on.\u201d)\n <\/p>\n

\n Not all Republicans are on board. Some members of Florida\u2019s congressional delegation \u2013 particularly those in the southern half of the state \u2013 are increasingly anxious about creating a potential new map so late in the year. Some simply dislike the idea of being forced into a new district; others are worried that they or their colleagues could have their reelection bids put in danger, according to multiple Republicans briefed on the effort.\n <\/p>\n

\n GOP Rep. Laurel Lee, who once served as DeSantis\u2019 secretary of state and now represents a Tampa-area district, was cautious when asked whether Florida should move ahead based on Virginia\u2019s election results.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI am sure that the legislature will make an independent decision about what they think is appropriate, separate from what some of the other states have decided to do,\u201d Lee said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna noted in a recent interview with CNN that a new map for the 2026 election would mark the third time in four elections that the contours of the district she\u2019s running in have changed.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPlease, guys, c\u2019mon,\u201d Luna said jokingly. \u201cNot again. I\u2019m having commitment issues.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Jeffries taunted the governor on Wednesday, suggesting any Florida redraw would become a \u201cDeSantis dummy-mander.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n At a bill signing Wednesday in Jacksonville, DeSantis did not address his plans for a new map but blasted Jeffries over his vow to knock off GOP House members this November.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPlease be my guest,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cI will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I\u2019ll put you up in the Florida governor\u2019s mansion. We\u2019ll take you fishing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries everywhere around this state,\u201d he added. \u201cVoters will not like what they see.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Florida<\/p>\n

Longstanding tensions with DeSantis<\/p>\n

\n Many GOP lawmakers and operatives agree that Florida can safely pick up two seats \u2013 three at a maximum \u2013 without risking a so-called \u201cdummy-mander\u201d that endangers incumbents. But it\u2019s unclear what DeSantis or the state legislature plan to do.\n <\/p>\n

\n Concerns from Florida\u2019s congressional delegation are unlikely to carry much weight with DeSantis.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Florida governor has long had a strained relationship with the state\u2019s Republican House members \u2013 even during his own time in the US House \u2013 and things deteriorated sharply in 2023 when DeSantis launched his presidential bid.\n <\/p>\n

\n Many in the delegation backed Trump instead, sometimes in ways that seemed to maximize embarrassment to their home-state governor. Some timed their endorsement to coincide with DeSantis\u2019 campaign rollout while others traveled to Iowa to stump for Trump and sow doubt in the minds of caucus-goers about DeSantis\u2019 governing record.\n <\/p>\n

\n DeSantis is known among allies and adversaries alike for holding grudges \u2013 and he has not moved past those perceived slights, according to several people familiar with his thinking.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Virginia redistricting result has also spurred a fresh round of questions on Capitol Hill about whether Republicans\u2019 initial efforts to redraw Texas\u2019 maps last year have ultimately backfired.\n <\/p>\n

\n Asked whether it was worth it for Republicans to begin the gerrymandering fight in Texas, GOP campaign chief Rep. Richard Hudson told CNN: \u201cThat\u2019s not up to me to decide.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Other Republicans who have been long critical of the party\u2019s redistricting push have grown more vocal since the Virginia results. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a Pennsylvania swing district, argued that Republicans should never have \u201cgone down this path at all.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI thought Texas was a bad idea; California was a bad idea. We should be trying to balance every district in America, not gerrymandering every district in America. It\u2019s a race to the bottom,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n National Republicans, though, argued that they had no choice but to try for every possible advantage in a midterm cycle that is typically brutal for the party in power.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf Republicans had not gone on offense, we would be down five or more seats. I\u2019m confident of that at this point,\u201d Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, told CNN on Wednesday. \u201cBetween going on offense and drawing more favorable maps and being more aggressive in defending the maps that were being litigated, we have come out ahead of where we would have been otherwise.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kincaid and James Blair, a top Trump political aide, both said they expected DeSantis to craft a map that will withstand scrutiny.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cRon DeSantis has drawn maps before,\u201d Blair told CNN\u2019s Dana Bash on Wednesday. \u201cIf he chooses to go forward, he will draw them in a way that\u2019s compliant with the law.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior Republicans in Washington are ramping up the pressure on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to redraw his state\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-243006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}