Florida\u2019s House Republicans breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 proposed map for mid-cycle redistricting, which the state legislature approved along party lines Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Many feared that giving Republicans an advantage in five more congressional districts in Florida would have been too risky. An advantage in four more districts? That \u201cmakes sense,\u201d Rep. John Rutherford told NOTUS, reacting to his state\u2019s proposed maps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not gerrymandered like Virginia,\u201d Rutherford said, referring to Democrats\u2019 ambitious map that attempts to draw out all but one Republican seat in the state.<\/p>\n
As DeSantis took up the redistricting effort, some lawmakers in the delegation expressed<\/a> concern<\/a> that an aggressive new map would spread Republicans too thinly across districts and put incumbents at risk of losing reelection. Florida\u2019s House delegation is already made up of 20 Republicans, and only eight Democrats.<\/p>\n The map now awaiting DeSantis\u2019 signature has calmed some nerves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just like a big group photo,\u201d Rep. Aaron Bean said. \u201cWhen you see a group photo, the first thing we do is we look for ourselves. So I looked at Congressional District 4, which I have the honor of serving, and I\u2019m grateful there\u2019s no proposed change.\u201d<\/p>\n Just not all nerves.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people are worried that it\u2019s more than two, but they\u2019re grateful that it\u2019s less than six, so we\u2019re right there in the middle,\u201d Bean said. His district, covering parts of Jacksonville and Northeast Florida, was largely not impacted by redistricting.<\/p>\n Several members of the delegation are seeing bigger changes to their districts ahead of the November elections. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, for example, would pick up parts of Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor\u2019s district under the new map, although she said she wasn\u2019t worried.<\/p>\n Rep. Mario D\u00edaz-Balart, who represents a South Florida district, including parts of Miami-Dade and Hialeah, saw drastic changes to his district.<\/p>\n D\u00edaz-Balart projected confidence that he would fare just fine, considering he\u2019d also been affected by redistricting in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cI have represented so many different areas in Southern Florida over the years that I\u2019m really not concerned,\u201d D\u00edaz-Balart said. \u201cI just haven\u2019t been focused on it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n And Rep. Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar, a South Florida Republican who\u2019s on Democrats\u2019 list of targets, said she was happy with the new lines precisely because her district stayed the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI said the other day, I don\u2019t control this process, I never knew about it. I didn\u2019t know whether my lines were going to go up, down, to the sides,\u201d Elvira Salazar said. \u201cThis is the governor and the state legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n Red and blue states have been in a redistricting battle ever since Texas Republicans pushed a new mid-cycle map targeting up to five Democrat-held seats. In the fall, California voters approved<\/a> a new congressional map that targeted as many as four Republican-held seats. North Carolina, Ohio, Louisiana, Missouri andOhio have also enacted redistricting measures; many maps, including Virginia\u2019s, are still the subject of pending lawsuits.<\/p>\n