Jacob Ogles
After nearly 30 years holding elected office, former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson had no plans to leave Congress last year. But a congressional map drawn by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ staff doomed the Tallahassee Democrat’s chances at re-election.
As a legal challenge heads to court this month, Lawson anxiously awaits developments that could reopen a path to Washington.
“I’ve had a long time of service,” Lawson said. “It’s a part of me, helping people, especially those who have problems and people who are less fortunate.”
But he can’t even deliberate on potentially running again unless the courts decide to change Florida’s congressional map. A stipulation agreement reached last weekend between plaintiffs and the state regarding a legal challenge to the DeSantis map greatly raised the prospects that a congressional district could return that spans from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, much like the one Lawson represented over three over three terms in the U.S. House.
Attorneys for the state concede in the agreement that the DeSantis map has no congressional district where Black voters control the election outcome. That’s a seeming violation of Florida’s Fair District amendment, which forbids the diminishment of minority communities’ ability to elect a Representative of their choice.
But DeSantis said such a directive on redistricting led to a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which courts have said forbids using race as the primary motivation for crafting political boundaries. The Governor cited that concern when he vetoed a Florida congressional map that could have left a district in place that stretched along most of Florida’s northern border.
Ultimately, the Legislature took up and passed a map submitted by Alex Kelly, now DeSantis’ acting Chief of Staff, that eliminated two Black-controlled districts. That went into effect for the 2022 election cycle but minority advocates have sued in state court to have the cartography overthrown.
The stipulation agreement means plaintiffs will seek relief only in North Florida, where they want to see a minority access district return. Circuit Court Judge Lee Marsh will hear oral arguments on Aug. 24, then render a decision, with an appellate path fast-tracking any further litigation to the Florida Supreme Court from there.
That means if a district like Lawson’s returns, it will likely be in place for next year’s congressional elections. Lawson said he will consider a run in that instance but must consult with his family about any decision.
“When I found out this weekend there’s a possibility a district somewhere could be restored, I was excited not so much for myself, but for the people, especially from Gadsden County to Jacksonville,” he said. “A lot of them and don’t feel any representation.”
He said U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, a Fernandina Beach Republican now representing much of Jacksonville, hasn’t served the community as effectively.
“Jacksonville has one of the largest inner city African American populations in the state, and they feel they don’t have anybody,” Lawson said. “Bean is in Fernandina Beach, and in Clay County. They just don’t know what to do.”
Bean’s district stretched from Nassau County in Northeast Florida, where the Republican lives, south to Clay. The freshman Representative provided the following statement to Florida Politics about the redistricting case.
“We will not comment on pending litigation and Congressman Bean is very proud to represent and serve his constituents and community in Congress,” campaign spokesperson Sarah Bascom said.
Of note, a criticism leveled at Florida’s old map, which was enacted by the Florida Supreme Court in 2016 and opened the chance for Lawson to win a seat after defeating Jacksonville Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown in a Primary, was that it left Jacksonville constituents represented by a Congressman living more than 150 miles away.
But Lawson said his private insurance office continues to receive calls looking for help with federal government issues from throughout his old district. In some cases, Lawson’s insurance staff has learned a few basics so they can point his former constituents in the right direction.
He argued that despite distance there was a strong connection for the communities from Gadsden County, Florida’s only majority Black County, to downtown Jacksonville. Looking at demographic movement dating back to the Civil War, many emancipated and escaped slaves settled along the Florida border south of Alabama and Georgia.
That’s one reason why heavy concentrations of Black residents remain all along North Florida still. Beyond racial makeup, heavy agriculture interests also remained strong in the same era.
Lawson represented much of the region over 18 years in the Florida Legislature before he won election to Congress. In that time, he learned many of the issues and power players in the communities. So it stung when redistricting brought an abrupt end to his time in Washington. He said DeSantis’ move to take over the redistricting process shocked him, partly because no Governor had ever done that in Florida history, but also because he served in the U.S. House with DeSantis and never had a problem.
After a new map came out, Lawson ran in the Tallahassee area against U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, a Panama City Republican. Lawson said he was urged to do so, even though it was a Republican-leaning district. In a sense, election results that left all of North Florida without any Democratic Representatives helps make the case the map is not fair, attorneys have argued. But Lawson said it also pained him to run against Dunn, a close associate across the aisle.
“I won’t run again in CD 2 (Dunn’s seat),” Lawson said. “We’ve always been friends, and it put me in a peculiar position.”
Of note, the Florida Legislature in its vetoed redistricting plan actually approved another Black access seat in North Florida, including Lawson’s border-hugging district only as a backup if courts rejected state lawmakers’ favored cartography. Republicans in the Florida Legislature argued a district contained entirely in the Jacksonville area could be drawn where Black voters could determine the winner a majority of the time.
But Lawson said he would not run in a Jacksonville area seat.
“I wouldn’t consider moving to camouflage the fact I’ve been living in Tallahassee,” Lawson said. “I ran in the district I did to try and make a difference in Northeast Florida and in Northwest Florida, which didn’t feel like it had any representation at the time.”
