House moves ahead with redistricting review as Senate, governor signal delay

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s mid-decade redistricting battle officially began Thursday, but the House’s first meeting on the issue ended almost as quickly as it started. It lasted less than half an hour and sparked immediate backlash from voting-rights advocates who traveled from across the state to weigh in.

More than 100 protesters rallied outside the Florida Capitol before the hearing, denouncing the GOP-led effort to redraw congressional lines seven years ahead of schedule.

WATCH: Florida House moves ahead with redistricting review as Senate, governor signal delay

“If you have to redistrict the voting distribution in a state in order to win an election, you're cheating. You're also a coward,” said Faye Johnson of Tallahassee.

“This flies in the face of what the voters want and what we already have in our (Florida) Constitution,” added Teresa Stohs, who drove up from Naples.

Inside, the House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting convened for its first meeting. Chair Rep. Mike Redondo (R-Miami) described it as strictly informational and not open for public comment.

“Let me be very clear, our work as a committee and as a legislative body is not directed by the work of other states or partisan gamesmanship,” Redondo told members as opponents audibly laughed. “We may ultimately, we may ultimately decide to propose a new congressional map based on our exploration, or we may not.”

Redondo said lawmakers will rely on 2020 Census data and review Florida’s existing map. That’s following a recent Florida Supreme Court ruling that raised new questions about how race may be considered when drawing congressional districts.

He also pushed back on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ preference to delay any map-drawing until a spring special session. That’s predictably after the U.S. Supreme Court issues its decision in a major Voting Rights Act case.

“Given the fact that we are less than a year away from the election, not to mention the fact that the candidate qualifying period for federal office is in late April, it would be irresponsible to delay the creation and passage of a new map, especially until after session,” Redondo said.

That stance puts the House at odds with Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Bartow), who signaled Wednesday that the upper chamber is not engaging in mid-decade redistricting work, at the moment. 

In a memo to senators, Albritton wrote: “The Governor has expressed a desire to address this issue next Spring. As such, there is no ongoing work regarding potential mid-decade redistricting taking place in the Senate at this time.”

Outside the committee room, voter advocates expressed frustration—not only with the limited meeting, but with lawmakers leaving without speaking to voters or reporters.

“So that meeting was too short and not so sweet, because a lot of people came from all around Florida to speak and meet with their members, and that meeting was less than a half an hour, basically,” said Jonathan Webber of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “And it's unfair to people of Florida with such an important process that they didn't have a chance to speak to their members.”

Genesis Robinson of Equal Ground argued the effort violates voter-approved anti-gerrymandering protections, approved by voters in 2010.

“Regardless of what was said today. We know that the Fair District amendments are the law of the land in this state,” Robinson said. “They were approved by Florida voters in a bipartisan fashion, and we're simply still asking legislators to follow the law.”

The committee meets again next week, but major questions remain, particularly how any House proposal would align with the Governor and Senate leadership, who appear to favor a slower timeline.

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