A.G. Gancarski
The new maps are here. And from the looks of it, Corrine Brown has a shot of being elected, if the final district looks like the version released Wednesday.
Her District 5, as expected, goes east-west, encompassing the Duval County urban core, then stretching westward between the I-10 corridor and the Georgia border, all the way to Gadsden County.
Though not a majority African-American district, African-Americans have a plurality and are 48.5 percent of the population, including those who self-identify as Hispanic-Black.
The voting age population, meanwhile, is just over 45 percent black.
A few weeks ago, Brown said in a prepared statement that “overturning the current District 5 map ignores the essential redistricting principle of maintaining communities of interest or minority access districts. Certainly, minority communities do not live in compact, cookie-cutter-like neighborhoods, and excessive adherence to district ‘compactness,’ while ignoring the maintenance of minority access districts, fragments minority communities across the state.”
Florida Politics will ask Representative Brown her thoughts on the proposed redistricting Thursday at a ceremony in Jacksonville commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
