Why Redistrict Now?<\/p>\n
Under the U.S. Constitution, congressional districts are supposed to have essentially equal populations to ensure the principle of \u201cone person, one vote.\u201d Normally, those lines are drawn once every 10 years after the census.<\/p>\n
But Florida\u2019s population has surged in just the last few years. The state has grown roughly 9% in five years to over 23.4 million residents. Essentially, a population the size of Nebraska moved into the Sunshine State between 2020 and 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gaetz said the governor\u2019s argument is that these rapid, uneven influxes of residents have created imbalances in representation between districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a huge influx of new people in Florida, and as a result, we have surges of population in different parts of the state that mean that some places in the state have unequal congressional representation,\u201d Gaetz said. \u201cUnder the US Constitution, you have to have exactly the same number of people in each congressional district in order to be able to say one person, one vote.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Okaloosa County Democratic Party Chair Steve Norton doesn\u2019t see it the same way as Senator Gaetz. He didn\u2019t hold back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s a typical De Satan ploy, the problem is that there is no need for redistricting,\u201d Norton argued, \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a census. And generally speaking, the trend has been to redistrict for the purpose of uh, gaining more Republican uh, seats rather than keeping it fair and among the people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gaetz: Proposal Not About Partisan Advantage<\/p>\n
Any redistricting fight in Florida tends to trigger accusations of partisan gerrymandering. Asked whether Democrats are right to see this as a move to secure more Republican seats, Gaetz pushed back.<\/p>\n
Gaetz, who chairs the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee and is responsible for filing the governor\u2019s bill in the Senate, said he has seen no discussion \u2014 at least publicly \u2014 of drawing lines for partisan gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard no conversation about the partisan nature of his proposal,\u201d he said. \u201cI read his proposal in great depth today, and there\u2019s nothing in there about helping Republicans or hurting Democrats.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that any overt attempt at partisan gerrymandering would fail in court:<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything in his proposal talks about making sure that everybody, no matter whether they\u2019re a Democrat or Republican, no matter what side of what congressional line they happen to be on, will have an equal representation in Congress, otherwise it won\u2019t pass judicial muster. There\u2019s no way that you can redistrict for the purpose of partisan advantage and have that be acceptable under the law\u201d.<\/p>\n