Just recently Florida voters filed a lawsuit against Republican governor Ron DeSantis in an effort to counter his redistricting/ congressional map, which appears deeply flawed yet was approved by Florida's legislature (which has a Republican majority). After having vetoed a map proposed earlier this year which would have added two republican districts and eliminated one democratic district, this new map takes things further by eliminating three Democratic districts and adding four republican majority districts, creating a massive objective advantage for the Republican party in the state moving forwards. The party line vote to accept this map highlights an aspect we have studied greatly which is the extent to which political polarization and party ideology/strength has an influence in government, and in this case, the 24-15 vote demonstrates all republican senators voting in favor, and nearly all democrats voting against it, as one democrat senator did not vote.
In actual terms, this map creates 20 congressional seats for the republican party and just eight for democrats out of the 28 total the state has, having major implications on the composition of Congress by strengthening Republican party influence. The map would almost certainly result in the combination of predominantly African American districts as well in certain areas, leading to more densely packed districts, and new districts now set to be won by republicans. For example, DeSantis eliminated a district currently represented by Al Lawson, and which historically has enabled African-American voters to elect a representative of choice. Members of the democratic party are threatening to challenge this legislation on grounds of violating the Voting Rights Act and its prohibition of gerrymandering, and many state that “DeSantis has bullied the legislature into enacting a map that does not allow for a fair electoral contest, and instead draws Republicans an illegitimate and illegal partisan advantage that they have not earned from the voter" (Holder).
DeSantis on the other hand seems to be strengthening his position in the Republican party in anticipation of a possible presidential campaign in the upcoming 2024 elections. Actions such as this have given him more prominence and strength amongst potential voters which can help him moving forwards should he decide to run, yet it is awful to see how partisan politics and increased polarization prompt more extreme actions which favor only one party and lead to no compromise. This map specifically I believe disrupts the balance of Florida’s congressional makeup, creating an apparent advantage for Republicans which is not driven by voter ideology but rather by district divisions as drawn by DeSantis and approved by the state legislature. Hopefully when challenged, the map can be struck down and prevent the destruction of various established democratic districts, and similarly prevent the weakening of African American voter preferences in the state’s congressional elections.
Questions:
Is this a clear example of gerrymandering and thus in violation of Shaw v. Reno's SCOTUS decision?
Do you think that DeSantis made this move in order to enhance his status in the Republican party ahead of the 2024 presidential elections where he may run for the Republican party nomination?
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/us/politics/florida-redistricting-maps-desantis.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/florida-senate-approves-gov-desantis-congressional-map
1 comment:
I think that the situation can definitely be difficult as it is hard to prove that DeSantis was purposefully gerrymandering in a way to increase Republican districts. However, I think that the example district that rids African Americans from electing their representative of choice heavily seems like a violation as the districts are no longer representative of what the population would want. After reading more on the subject, DeSantis clearly split a Democratic-leaning voters into four districts that have majority Republican-leaning districts. I think that the magnitude of the poor redistricting is not as terrible as it was for Shaw v. Reno, however, I do think that DeSantis’ redistricting does go against the decision as it is preventing many African American voters from getting the representative they desire and does seem like an effort to segregate votes based on race. Overall, I think that Florida should be redistricted because the map is not a proper representation of how the population would normally vote due to the increase in Republican districts and the split of Democratic districts.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/florida-judge-rules-desantis-redistricting-map-unconstitutional
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/20/desantis-congressional-redistricting-map-gets-senate-approval/7374821001/
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