House votes to move ahead with two-map congressional redistricting bill

The House formally voted to advance a controversial two-map plan as part of Florida’s congressional redistricting legislation.

The plan was crafted in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ expressed concerns about a North Florida congressional district. House leadership argued it’s worth taking those concerns into account if lawmakers don’t want DeSantis’ veto pen to send them back to the drawing board.

“Members, we don’t legislate in a vacuum,” said Rep. Tyler Sirois, a Merritt Island Republican. “The Governor has provided his own perspective but so have many of you.”

Sirois, chair of the House Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee, sponsored the actual House legislation (HB 7503) that carries the maps. Lawmakers on the House floor Thursday voted to pass that legislation as an amendment to a bill already passed by the Senate (SB 102).

The Senate in January passed its own map (S 8060). In the upper chamber, senators ignored any public submissions of cartography by the Governor’s Office.

None of the maps produced by DeSantis’ General Counsel Ryan Newman have included a district analogous to Florida’s 5th Congressional District, represented now by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Tallahassee Democrat. But staff for the House and Senate have maintained CD 5 is a Black-performing district protected by the federal Voting Rights Act and the Fair Districts amendment to Florida’s Constitution.

DeSantis threatened to veto any map with “unconstitutional districts.” In a letter to Sirois, Newman said CD 5 falls in that category.

With those concerns looming, the House produced a primary proposal for Florida’s 28 congressional districts (H 8019) that replaces Lawson’s seat with a Jacksonville area district that should preserve the ability for Black voters in North Florida to elect a candidate of their choice.

Rep. Tom Leek, House Redistricting Committee chair, said that’s practically necessary. But he also said the Governor isn’t alone in his desire to see a map without a Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville district.

“There are also many members in the chamber who would like to give the Governor the opportunity to make his legal argument, which is a novel legal argument and an expansion of the law,” Leek said. “This map configuration you have before you puts that squarely within his ability to make those challenges.”

But in the event the court rejects that argument and holds that CD 5 must be preserved, the legislation offers a fallback map (H 8015).

Democrats argued it’s irresponsible to submit a map in response to concerns lawmakers don’t all share.

“This is embarrassing,” said Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton Democrat. The ranking Democrat on the House Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee, Skidmore said the House should submit only one plan, and it should be one the House has confidence would pass legal muster.

“My only comfort is that after we do this, there’s still an opportunity to meet with the Senate and try and hash out a map that we can all agree on,” she said.

Leek defended the two-map solution.

“The primary map is put forward as a way to address the legal theory raised by the Governor while still protecting a Black minority seat in North Florida,” Leek said. “If this configuration of CD 5 in the primary map is struck down by a court, the secondary map is postured to take immediate effect and contains a district configuration similar to the benchmark district.”

Sen. Ray Rodrigues, an Estero Republican and Senate Reapportionment Committee chair, expressed some interest in a two-tier bill structure.

“I don’t think we’ve seen that done in redistricting, but given a tight timeline, it makes sense to go in with as much preparation as possible,” he said.

The House expects to hold a final vote on its map on Friday, and after that, the chambers must come together in conference. From there, both chambers of the Legislature must agree on and pass a final bill that will be sent to DeSantis. He can then sign it, veto it or allow it to become law.

But of note, the Governor’s Office has not embraced either map, and DeSantis threatened a veto even after the House Redistricting Committee moved forward with a plan.

Rep. Dan Daley, a Sunrise Democrat, questioned the House plan on the floor. He wondered why, if the House had greater confidence in the secondary map, it wasn’t being offered as a first choice. He dismissed the approach as “ranked choice” redistricting.

But Skidmore and Daley ultimately withdrew amendments from consideration that would have favored the Senate map or made the secondary map the primary one.

Through the redistricting process, Democrats have questioned whether any maps produce enough minority representation. Rep. Ramon Alexander of Tallahassee said the map reconfiguring Lawson’s district presents a whole new set of racial issues. He noted that by condensing the minority seat to the Jacksonville area, it moves Florida A&M University, the state’s largest historically Black university, out of a historically Black-held district. It also cuts Gadsden County, the only majority Black county in Florida, from the district.

“Is it safe to say that it would diminish the ability of the only majority African American county in the state of Florida to elect a Representative of their own choice?” Alexander said.

Leek argued the primary map does not diminish overall minority access because it simply shifts the Black seat to the east. He also said the top-tier minority protections in Florida’s Constitution aren’t based on county lines but population centers.

There are significantly different numbers behind the Black district on each map, however. The primary map produces a district where 35.27% of the voting age population is Black. The secondary map produces a 42.6% Black district.

Separately, Rep. Fentrice Driskell took issue with House language limiting the time frame for parties to challenge maps in court to just 30 days from the maps taking effect. Leek and Republican leadership in the House have argued that’s a timeline similar to challenges on ballot language, and said a shortened period makes sense because these maps will go into effect for the 2022 election cycle. The House ultimately shot down amendments from Driskell to leave a four-year statute of limitations in place or to reduce the period to one year.