![\"Gov.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DeSantismap042726.jpg\" "\\"Gov.")
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Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 office released this proposed U.S. House of Representatives district map on April 27, 2026, seeking to increase the number of Republican-friendly districts in Florida to 24. Only four districts in the state would favor Democrats in November\u2019s elections if the Legislature approves the map.<\/p>\n
Office of Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/p>\n
Part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 justification for redrawing congressional district lines was a \u201cracially gerrymandered\u201d district his new map has \u201cunwound,\u201d he posted on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor has often complained about the old shape of District 20, calling<\/a> it last year \u201cthe most irregular shaped district on Florida\u2019s map.\u201d That map is one he drew in 2022, by the way, before President Trump\u2019s edict that states redraw congressional boundaries to help Republicans keep the U.S. House. The district covered much of western Broward and Palm Beach counties and snaked east around predominantly Black communities toward the coast. The lines were drawn so that Black voters could elect a candidate of their choice.<\/p>\n But what DeSantis has done is replace \u201cracially gerrymandered\u201d lines with partisan gerrymandered ones in South Florida and across the state. The new lines are clearly intended to group as many Republican voters as possible into single districts. The results are boundaries that are as oddly shaped as the one he used to complain about.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just a matter of poor aesthetics \u2014 it impacts representation in Miami-Dade. Part of the county, under the map the Legislature approved Wednesday, is now part of a district that extends as far north as Delray Beach.<\/p>\n District 25<\/a>, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, previously covered a swath of southern Broward, stretching east to west. The redrawn district, now a skinny shape, stretches from Fisher Island and South Beach across all of coastal Miami-Dade and Broward and into southern Palm Beach. Along the way, it has claws veering west into parts of inland Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.<\/p>\n The new lines cut across three of the state\u2019s largest counties and communities that don\u2019t have much in common besides being near or on the coast. District 25 is more than 50 miles long, a distance that in South Florida traffic can require more than a two-hour drive, making these areas harder to represent.<\/p>\n This looks like an example of what Florida voters were trying to avoid when they approved the Fair Districts Amendment in 2010 to ban the drawing of districts for partisan gain.<\/p>\n District 25 was redrawn from solid blue to favor Republicans, though not by much. The district voted for Joe Biden by about five points in 2020 and then for Trump in 2024 by nine points, according to Sabato\u2019s Crystal Ball,<\/a> a nonpartisan political analysis newsletter that stated District 25 \u201ccould very well be a Toss-up\u201d in the November midterms. Wasserman Schultz said Friday she\u2019s running for reelection but did not say in which district, the Sun Sentinel<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n In the end, with Trump\u2019s low approval ratings and the history of the party in power under-performing in midterms, DeSantis and lawmakers might not get the outcome they anticipated. But voters will not get their old district back.<\/p>\n Before last week\u2019s redistricting, Republicans controlled 20 out of 28 Florida congressional seats. Now they could flip four additional ones. What happened to District 25 isn\u2019t unique to South Florida, Matthew Isbell, a Democratic data analyst, told the Herald Editorial Board.<\/p>\n An even more egregious example of anomalous boundaries is District 9. It stretches from urban Orlando to rural areas surrounding Lake Okeechobee more than two hours away<\/a> and Vero Beach on the Atlantic coast. That district, currently represented by Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, became solid red \u2014 Trump won it by nearly 19 points in 2024, according to Sabato\u2019s Crystal Ball. Another example: District 22, now stretching from western Palm Beach and Broward to Marco Island on the Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n Isbell said he believes these districts are not compact, a standard in redistricting that is meant to prevent bizarrely shaped, gerrymandered maps. It will probably be up to the courts to decide whether that\u2019s the case. DeSantis has stacked the state\u2019s Supreme Court with conservative justices, so the odds are, unfortunately, against voters\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n If these maps are upheld in court, next time lawmakers redistrict they will feel emboldened to manipulate boundaries as much as they want into any unthinkable shape. The only goal has become political dominance, not voter representation.<\/p>\n BEHIND THE STORY MORE <\/a> Who decides the political endorsements? <\/p>\n