DeSantis calls for new census, claims 2020 numbers inaccurate

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — The state of Florida is calling for a recount of the most recent U.S. Census, claiming there was an undercount in 2020.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier made the announcement Wednesday afternoon at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth.

WATCH LIVE: DeSantis calls for Census recount, claims undercount in 2020

State officials have written a letter to the Census Bureau and Commerce Department, copying the White House, to seek a new census.

"We want this fixed now," DeSantis said. "This is something that's kind of stuck in my craw for a number of years."

The governor believes the state of Florida deserves at least one extra representative in the U.S. House.

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but every state that got shortchanged was a Republican state and every state that got more (representatives) was a Democrat state," DeSantis said. "That's just the truth about how that Census was applied."

DeSantis said if Florida receives another representative, this will prompt the redrawing of the congressional maps.

"That would obvioulsy force the Florida Legislature to have to redraw the maps that we have for U.S. House of Representatives," DeSantis said.

The state currently has 28 representatives in the U.S. House.

"If you look at when this Census was completed, the counting I think stopped in April of 2020," DeSantis said. "Just think about what it was like in Palm Beach (County) then compared to now."

DeSantis said he'd like to have all of this done in the next three to six months in time for the 2026 midterm elections.

"We've had really significant growth and migration, and our congressional map should reflect that," DeSantis said. "This is something that we are going to have to address as a state."

Uthmeier claims there was an undercount of about 700,000 people in Florida in 2020.

"It's clear that there's been, for a long time now, a deep state effort to manipulate the census and shift electoral power to blue states, to sanctuary states," Uthmeier said.

WATCH BELOW: WPTV Investigative Reporter Dave Bohman questions DeSantis regarding 'racially drawn districts'

Earlier in the day, Florida Democrats decried the call for a push by the GOP to redraw congressional maps.

"Florida voters aren't dumb, and they know that attempts by the Florida GOP to redraw maps are nothing more than an attempt to rig the system," Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement. "Congressional maps are drawn once a decade, after a Federal census, not when a political party is afraid of losing power. ... Florida's voters are engaged and ready to fight against any attempt to dilute their power. They know that voters should pick who represents them and politicians shouldn’t cherry-pick their voters."

Redrawing congressional maps has become a hot-button topic this month following a push by Texas Republicans to redraw that state's districts, prompting Democrats to flee the Lone Star State to stymie those efforts.

Governor put U.S. House District 20 in the spotlight

DeSantis said at least one Florida district was racially gerrymandered — District 20 — which comprises part of Palm Beach and Broward counties. WPTV reporter Dave Bohman asked him if it was the one represented by U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla.

"Yes," DeSantis said. "So if you look at the map, there's one that almost looks like it has claws that go out, and it's the most irregularly shaped district on Florida's map. It's not really what the Legislature's supposed to draw per Florida's constitution, but the reason they were able to do it was to ensure compliance with the (Voting Rights Act) Section 2."

The Voting Rights Act allows for the creation of districts that have a majority of voters who belong to a minority group.

This was done to protect the voting power of those minorities.

The governor believes the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down that provision in the next two months and clear the way for a redrawing of Florida's congressional maps.

WPTV has not received a comment yet from Cherfilus-McCormick following DeSantis' statement on Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., whose own congressional district could be redrawn, sent WPTV the following statement via email.

"Voters should be able to choose their representatives, not the other way around," Frankel said.

At Wednesday's news conference, WPTV pressed the governor on the possibility of using an independent commission to redistrict congressional maps. He said it's better to have the state legislature do it, and if voters don't like it, they can vote lawmakers out of office.