FL Approves New Electoral Map, Likely Adding 4 Republican US House Seats
The Florida legislature has voted to approve Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s new congressional redistricting map. This huge vote could change the balance of power in the federal House of Representatives before the November 2026 elections.
The state House voted 83 to 28 in support of the map, while the Senate voted 21 to 17 in favor, sending it to the governor to sign. The revised design would give Republicans a 24-to-4 edge in the state’s 28 congressional districts, up from the existing 20-to-8. This would give the Republican Party four more seats.
The procedure went rather quickly: DeSantis sent out the map on Monday, April 27, in an official letter. There were public hearings on Tuesday, but few people attended. Both houses approved it just 48 hours later.
The districts that would be most affected are Representative Darren Soto’s in Osceola and south Orlando, which would go from a Democratic advantage of 3.50% to a Republican lead of 17.71%. Lois Frankel’s district would go from 5.55% favorable to Democrats to 10.47% favorable to Republicans.
The Democrats would only keep four districts, all of which are in central and southern Florida.
The approval came just an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that a majority-black district in Louisiana was unconstitutional. This weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and took away one of the main legal tools that Democrats would have used to challenge the map in federal courts.
DeSantis has justified the plan by pointing out that there are demographic disparities.
DeSantis has defended the initiative by arguing demographic imbalances. “District 14 had approximately 100,000 fewer votes than the adjacent District 12. The numbers justify it,” DeSantis stated. “It’s a matter of fairness,” he added.
The map also has to contend with the Fair Districts Amendment, which was passed by Florida voters in 2010 and makes it illegal to draw districts to favor one party over another.
DeSantis says this change goes against the federal Constitution’s equal protection clause. A poll by Common Cause in September 2025 found that 55% of Florida voters, including most Republicans, are against redistricting in the middle of the decade.
As soon as DeSantis signs the map, cases will likely be filed in both state and federal courts.
This comes as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map on Wednesday and sharply limited the use of race in drawing district boundaries in a major ruling that could carry significant consequences for future House elections.
Louisiana had been ordered by lower courts to create a second majority-Black congressional district in 2024 to comply with Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which bars states from diluting minority voting strength.
The Trump administration and state officials challenged the revised map, arguing it amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
About one-third of Louisiana’s residents are African-American, and the state’s only two Democratic lawmakers in Congress (compared to four House Republicans) were elected from majority-black districts.
The justices initially addressed the Louisiana map case during the 2024-25 term. In an unusual move, they ordered both sides to restate their arguments to consider the implications of both the 14th and 15th Amendments. The 15th Amendment, in particular, prohibits states from denying citizens equal protection under the law or restricting their rights based on race.
The ruling carries immense weight, with two prominent voting rights organizations noting earlier that the removal or restriction of Section 2 will likely empower Republican-led legislatures to change the boundaries of as many as 19 congressional districts to their advantage, in order to comply with the court.
Voting rights organizations aligned with the Democratic Party already warned that the removal or restriction of Section 2 could empower Republican-led legislatures to change the boundaries of as many as 19 congressional districts to their advantage.
Fair Fight Action and the Black Voters Matter Fund argue that if Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is invalidated, it could significantly increase the likelihood that Republicans will maintain control of the House of Representatives for years.
Research has identified 27 congressional seats nationwide that Republicans could benefit from if the current legal and political landscape remains unchanged.
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