Reporter: Maddie Herron
•7/22/2026
COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—Florida's primary election is less than a month away, and one of the biggest talkers is the new Congressional District 22, where voters from a variety of demographics will be weighing in on their picks for Congress.
The district, once local to the Palm Beach County area, now stretches across the state to Southwest Florida, after the Florida Legislature passed a congressional map redistricting in May. The new boundaries span four South Florida counties.
Collier County couple Edward and Shirley Menefe plan to drop their ballots off early.
"I like to get it done," Edward Menefe said.
This election, the Menefes and thousands of other voters will cast their ballots within the new district lines.
"Not only does it take parts of Collier County, it takes Hendry County, goes all the way across the state over to Palm Beach County, south to Broward County," Melissa Blazier said. "It is a very, very large district with a very diverse population."
Blazier is the supervisor of elections for Collier County. She says in early June, her office mailed out just over 173,000 voter registration cards to people throughout the county, and about 125,000 of those registered voters are in the new Congressional District 22.
Like in any election, Blazier recommends District 22 voters do their research on the seven candidates running for the Republican pick and the two candidates running for the Democratic pick.
"These candidates are not just candidates who live in Collier County," Blazier said. "They are spread across four counties."
Political scientist Dr. Aubrey Jewett says the new district maps can create challenges in the race beyond political parties.
"It's gone from being a more Democratic district to a more Republican district," Jewett said. "But it also, because it's so large and sprawling, whoever wins this seat is going to have to represent a lot of different people and interest and occupations."
Jewett added that when Gov. DeSantis oversaw the redrawing of the congressional districts, District 22 arguably took the biggest change, certainly geographically.
"I mean, it's just again, it went from a very compact district solely within one county, Palm Beach, to now one of the biggest, most sprawling districts across all of South Florida," Jewett said.
To voters like the Menefes, that's an important factor. When asked how they feel about the lines being redrawn and if it's going to impact their vote at all for their district's congressional primary, Edward Menefe said he thinks it will.
"It will," Shirley Menefe said. "Yeah, it could impact our vote, but you do have to redraw lines as the population changes. It's a necessity that should be done based on population, and so I think that that is a good thing."
Bethany Conrad is a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. She explains that redistricting is not just redrawing lines on a map.
"Redistricting is changing things like who's representing you, what types of issues are going to be prioritized in Congress, how do these elections go," Conrad said.
Conrad went on to list possible voter impacts.
"Number one, because you have to figure out who your representative is again if it changed, and number two, because the priorities can be different, right?" Conrad said. "The people who live in Collier County probably have different priorities for their community than people that live in Broward County."
Conrad added that it's important for voters to know who's representing them, where they're registered to vote and their voting location.
"But especially in an election like this, primary election, when so many different things have changed, it's even more important to start early," Conrad said.
If you are unsure of your congressional district, Blazier says now is the time to check.
"They should have already gotten that new voter information card in the mail that has congressional district 22," Blazier said. "But if they are still unsure about their congressional district, they can go right to our website, Colliervotes.gov, click on the button that says 'Check my registration status,' and that will actually pull up all of their representatives."
For more information from the Collier County Supervisor of Elections website - click here.
