Needing to find common ground with lawmakers on redrawn congressional districts, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday pointed to maps already proposed by his office.
“There’s been a couple proposals that folks in the governor’s office have done, some of the lawyers have done, those will get my signature,” DeSantis said during an appearance at Valley Smoke Restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach. “If they (lawmakers) depart from that, you know, we’ll see.”
While his comments were not as fiery as in a March 4 tweet that said maps being considered that day by lawmakers were “DOA,” DeSantis added, “I think that it’s in everybody’s best interest to do something, get a product done. And then just move on with the election season.”
DeSantis on Tuesday vetoed congressional lines proposed by the Legislature (SB 102) and called for a special legislative session from April 19 to April 22. Lawmakers have worked to redraw political boundaries this year as part of the once-a-decade reapportionment process.
Maps for state House and state Senate districts drew relatively little controversy, but DeSantis targeted the congressional map and took the unusual step for a governor of pushing his own district designs. DeSantis’ proposals would be more favorable to Republicans than legislative plans.
He has argued, in part, that Congressional District 5 should be condensed in the Jacksonville area. The seat, held by Congressman Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, was drawn in the past to help elect a minority candidate and stretches from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee.
New lines must be in place by mid-June, ahead of congressional qualifying for the August primary and November general election.
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