By Joseph Ax
April 27 (Reuters) – Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed a new congressional map on Monday aimed at flipping four Democratic U.S. House of Representatives seats in November’s midterm election, further escalating a coast-to-coast redistricting war that has already reshaped dozens of districts nationwide.
It remains unclear whether the map has enough support in the Republican-controlled state legislature to pass. DeSantis has called lawmakers to convene a special session starting on Tuesday to consider his plan.
The map, which DeSantis first shared with Fox News, would likely give Republicans 24 of the state’s 28 U.S. House seats, up from its current 20-8 majority.
Republicans can afford to lose only two House seats in November’s election to retain a majority. A Democratic-led House could initiate investigations into President Donald Trump’s administration while blocking his legislative agenda.
Last week in Virginia, voters narrowly approved a Democratic-backed map that targets four Republican incumbents there. Republicans have filed several lawsuits challenging the validity of the ballot measure, and the Virginia Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in one of those cases.
Any successful redistricting in Florida would likely face its own legal challenges. In 2010, voters approved a constitutional amendment explicitly banning lawmakers from drawing district lines for political gain, a practice known as gerrymandering.
A handful of Florida Republicans have expressed concern that an aggressive redrawing could leave some incumbents vulnerable in a Democratic wave year. Democrats have consistently outperformed their 2024 margins in dozens of elections since Trump took office in January 2025.
Virginia and Florida represent what are likely the final battlegrounds in the redistricting war that Trump initiated last summer, when he successfully urged Texas Republicans to install a new map that targeted five Democratic incumbents.
While Republicans appeared to hold the redistricting advantage nationwide, Democrats have managed to fight back to a near-draw, depending on the final outcomes in Virginia and Florida.
Redistricting typically occurs after the end of each decade to account for population shifts in the U.S. Census. Trump’s gambit set off an unprecedented mid-decade cycle that quickly spread to a dozen states, both those controlled by Republicans and by Democrats.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a voting rights decision by summer that could allow Republican-led Southern states to redraw additional Democratic seats with large minority populations. But any ruling may be too late to have a significant impact on this year’s midterms.
(Reporting by Joseph AxEditing by Bill Berkrot)
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