<\/p>\n
Florida’s new congressional map splits up Black voters in Tampa Bay, local leaders say. (Jefferee Woo\/Tampa Bay Times\/TNS)<\/p>\n
Jefferee Woo<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay\u2019s new congressional map looks like a pinwheel, with districts shaped like vanes that carve through Black neighborhoods in the urban cores and fan out into the rural, white and Republican counties beyond.<\/p>\n
East Tampa, with its historically Black neighborhoods, will share a representative with the outer reaches of Citrus County, more than 90 miles northwest. Much of St. Petersburg\u2019s Black community will be in the same district as Arcadia and Fort Meade, 75 miles east into Florida\u2019s rural heartland.<\/p>\n
After a mid-cycle redistricting push to\u00a0solidify Republican rule<\/a>, Black voters in Tampa Bay find themselves splintered into five sprawling districts. The new map dilutes Black voting power, which leans Democratic, and\u00a0threatens the region\u2019s lone blue seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Florida is the latest in a string of states to reshape its electoral borders in favor of a political party. Though state staffers say they used partisan data, not race, to draw the map, local leaders say the redistricting comes at the expense of Black voters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that what they\u2019re doing is skewing or weakening the representation that should be in place,\u201d said NAACP St. Petersburg branch President Esther Sanni. \u201cIt\u2019s ignoring community boundaries. It\u2019s being very intentional with ensuring that the strength of our voices is minimized.\u201d<\/p>\n Black voters dispersed<\/p>\n The 14th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold held by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, saw dramatic change.<\/p>\n Under the old map, the district covered the eastern half of St. Petersburg and much of Tampa. Its population was 17.7% Black. Now, its boundaries cut out East Tampa, parts of Ybor City and all of Pinellas County, including southern St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n The district lost more than 47,000 Black residents, whose share of the population fell to 11.5%, according to 2020 Census population data that states are required to use when redistricting.<\/p>\n District 13, a Pinellas County district that Republican U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna carried by nearly 10 points in her most recent election, lost more than 6,000 Black residents. The redistricting makes it even redder.<\/p>\n Those Black residents will vote in the far-reaching 12th, 15th and 16th districts \u2014 all currently represented by Republicans.<\/p>\n East Tampa residents, for example, will vote in District 15, which was formerly centered around Temple Terrace, Plant City, the western half of Lakeland and the suburbs of northern Hillsborough and southern Pasco counties to Zephyrhills.<\/p>\n The new boundaries dip into Tampa\u2019s core, stretch to Dade City, hook west into Brooksville and extend north to Pine Ridge in Citrus County. Now, 3,000 Black residents formerly a part of Castor\u2019s heavily blue district will be represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee, who intends to seek reelection under the newly drawn district.<\/p>\n A smaller chunk of Black Tampa residents will vote in District 12, which spans to western Pasco County and is currently represented by Republican Gus Bilirakis.<\/p>\n State Rep. Dianne Hart, D-Tampa, said voters worry their new representatives won\u2019t adequately understand or advocate for their needs. Castor, Tampa\u2019s longtime congressperson, \u201cwas aware of what\u2019s happening in this district, understood the need for better education, better healthcare,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew what she stood for, what she would fight for,\u201d Hart said of Castor. \u201cNow, we\u2019ll have somebody who knows nothing about the district. How will they be able to help us? Will they help us? We just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Communities sliced again<\/p>\n In 2022, Florida\u2019s last round of redistricting split St. Petersburg down the middle. It diluted the voting power of the state\u2019s fifth-largest city, which is reliably Democratic.<\/p>\n The eastern half joined the 14th District, represented by Castor, concentrating blue votes under one congressional representative.<\/p>\n Even though St. Petersburg and Tampa are in different counties, Castor said the cities at least shared common interests. Both cities, for example, dealt with flooding and the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.<\/p>\n Now, St. Petersburg is sliced again \u2014 this time horizontally along 22nd Avenue North.<\/p>\n The new boundary for Florida\u2019s 16th District runs northwest to include Redington Shores and south over the Sunshine Skyway bridge to Hardee, DeSoto and Polk counties. The redrawn map added 5,500 Black people to the solidly red district, currently represented by Republican Vern Buchanan, who is retiring this year.<\/p>\n Castor no longer represents any part of the Sunshine City.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a gerrymander on top of a gerrymander,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Darryl Paulson, a professor emeritus of government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, said Florida has a long legacy of discrimination against Black voters, including poll taxes and literacy tests. The latest redistricting effort, he said, is \u201ca hoax to curtail the ability of African Americans to cast a fair ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n The state\u2019s new map was\u00a0approved by lawmakers<\/a>\u00a0hours after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that severely limited a key tenet of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, intended to prohibit discriminatory voting practices.<\/p>\n The court said Louisiana had conducted an illegal gerrymander by drawing congressional maps aimed to make it more likely a Black person could win a second seat in the state.<\/p>\n The ruling buoyed Florida\u2019s redistricting effort.\u00a0Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 office<\/a>\u00a0said the decision nullified Florida\u2019s 2010 Fair Districts Amendment, which bans lawmakers from drawing maps that diminish the voting power of minority groups.<\/p>\n