DeSantis calls special session to redraw Florida congressional maps

Governor Ron DeSantis filed a proclamation on January 7, 2026, calling a special legislative session to redraw Florida's 28 congressional districts. The session was originally set for April 20-24 but DeSantis delayed it to April 28-May 1 and expanded the agenda to include artificial intelligence and vaccine mandates.

The redistrictingRedistrictingThe process of redrawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries, typically every 10 years after the Census, to equalize populations.Key ConceptRedistrictingThe process of redrawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries, typically every 10 years after the Census, to equalize populations.Open conceptBookmark goal is to flip Florida's existing congressional map. The current Republican-drawn map from 2022 gives the GOP a 20-8 seat advantage over Democrats in the state's 28 House seats. Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power predicted a new map would yield three to five additional Republican seats.

Florida voters approved the Fair Districts Amendments to the state constitution in November 2010 with 63.2 percent in favor. Amendment 5 covers legislative districts; Amendment 6 covers congressional districts. Both share an identical prohibition: no redistricting plan or individual district may be drawn "with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent."

The amendment was a direct response to decades of partisan gerrymanderingGerrymanderingManipulation of voting district boundaries to favor one political party or group, diluting the voting power of opposing voters.Key ConceptGerrymanderingManipulation of voting district boundaries to favor one political party or group, diluting the voting power of opposing voters.Open conceptBookmark by both parties in Tallahassee. Sponsors collected more than 1.5 million signatures to place it on the ballot. Unlike most anti-gerrymandering measures, it put the constitutional prohibition directly in voters' hands rather than delegating enforcement to a commission.

On February 9, 2012, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Common Cause, the NAACP, and individual voters filed suit against then-Secretary of State Ken Detzner, alleging that districts 5, 10, 13, and 14 were intentionally drawn to favor Republicans in violation of the Fair Districts Amendment.

The Florida Supreme Court approved a remedial map on December 2, 2015, in League of Women Voters v. Detzner, 172 So. 3d 363, and ordered it in force for the 2016 elections. The court found the 2012 maps violated the Fair Districts Amendment because legislators drew them with partisan intent. DeSantis's 2026 special session attempts the same type of partisan mid-decade remap the court already struck down.

Republicans defend the special session by arguing new maps are needed to protect minority voting rights under Section 2 of the Voting Rights ActVoting Rights ActFederal statute prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and establishing federal oversight of election administration in jurisdictions with histories of discrimination.Key ConceptVoting Rights ActFederal statute prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and establishing federal oversight of election administration in jurisdictions with histories of discrimination.Open conceptBookmark of 1965, which bars voting procedures that discriminate by race. The theory is that courts could order Florida to create more majority-minority districts, so the legislature should act first.

Voting rights groups reject that framing. The 2022 DeSantis-backed map already reduced Florida's Black-majority congressional districts from three to two. NAACP president Derrick Johnson said reducing minority-majority districts harms Black voters by diluting their electoral power. League of Women Voters of Florida president Jessica Lowe-Minor called the special session a "power grab" inconsistent with any genuine voting rights rationale.

The legal constraint Republicans most want to remove depends on Louisiana v. Callais, a case before the U.S. Supreme Court asking whether Louisiana's congressional map, which created two majority-Black districts to comply with Section 2, itself violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments as racial gerrymandering. The Court heard a first round of oral arguments in March 2025, then took the rare step of ordering reargument in fall 2025.

On April 6, 2026, DeSantis stated publicly: "We know how that Supreme Court case is going to come out at this point. Justice Alito is writing the opinion." If the Court strikes down or severely limits Section 2, Republicans would lose the voting rights constraint that has historically limited how aggressively they can reduce minority voting districts. No ruling had been issued as of the start of the special session.

Texas carried out the only modern mid-decade congressional redistricting in 2003, engineered by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay after Republicans took control of the Texas legislature. DeLay's maps converted a 17-15 Democratic congressional advantage into a 21-11 Republican advantage after the 2004 elections.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the maps in LULAC v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006), ruling that mid-decade redistricting isn't categorically prohibited. But the Court found one district diluted Latino voting power in violation of the Voting Rights Act and required Texas to redraw it. Florida Republicans cite the Texas case as precedent that mid-decade redistricting is legal, but voting rights attorneys note the Court's warning about using partisan redistricting to harm minority voters.

Speaker of the Florida House Daniel Perez has clashed with DeSantis over both the timeline and approach. A Perez staffer told reporters on April 14 that "There just isn't a map that exists right now", six days before the session was originally set to begin.

Three sitting Republican U.S. House members, Daniel Webster, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Greg Steube, publicly warned against the push. Webster said outright: "Don't do it." Diaz-Balart told Florida Politics the aggressive approach risked producing a "dummymander" by packing Republican voters so tightly into a few districts that it reduces the total number of Republican-held seats. Senate President Ben Albritton has been more aligned with DeSantis and supported pushing the session forward.

The term "dummymander" refers to a partisan gerrymander that backfires by making existing seats more vulnerable. GOP consultant Alex Alvarado warned that pursuing five additional Republican seats could put three existing Republican incumbents at competitive risk. Florida's 28 congressional seats make it the third-largest House delegation in the country.

Diaz-Balart, whose Miami-area district includes a large Cuban-American population, told colleagues that drawing lines carelessly in South Florida could cost Republicans one of their most reliable seats. Republicans held the House by a thin margin heading into 2026, meaning losing even one or two Florida incumbents could shift the majority.

An Emerson Polling survey conducted in April 2026 found 56 percent of Florida voters opposed the special session redistricting, while only 28 percent supported it, with 16 percent undecided.

Public opposition hasn't slowed DeSantis. On April 14, he said the redistricting "will be done one way or another." The League of Women Voters and the NAACP have said they'll challenge any map produced by the session in court. Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd moved the campaign qualifying deadline to accommodate the session's new schedule, signaling the administration intends to implement new maps for the 2026 cycle regardless of litigation.