The battle over Florida’s political boundaries reached a boiling point Monday as State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) labeled Governor Ron DeSantis’s newly proposed congressional map an “illegal mid-decade power grab.”
The map, which could flip four Democratic-held U.S. House seats to the GOP, has sparked immediate backlash from Democrats who argue the move is a partisan maneuver designed to bypass Florida’s constitutional protections.
Nixon’s rebuke positions the proposal not as a demographic update, but as a deliberate attempt to “rig” the system.
“Florida’s maps are already rigged,” Representative Nixon said in a statement. “The current lines were drawn to favor Republicans and ruled on by judges the governor himself appointed. Now, with a stacked court and a legislature full of corrupt politicians scrambling to stay in power, they want to rig the maps even further.”
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The proposal arrives ahead of a special legislative session and carries the heavy backing of Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power.
Power argued the new lines are “long overdue,” citing a Republican voter registration advantage of over 1.5 million and population growth driven by people moving from “blue states.” He maintained that the state was “shortchanged” in the 2020 Census and needs a map that reflects current reality.
Governor DeSantis echoed this sentiment, stating that the proposal accounts for population shifts and prepares for potential U.S. Supreme Court rulings on how race is considered in redistricting.
Nixon, however, characterized the special session as a waste of public resources. “This is an illegal mid-decade power grab, paid for with taxpayer dollars,” she said. “This is a partisan attempt to choose voters before voters can choose them.”
The current map already gives Republicans 20 of the state’s 28 seats. If the Republican-controlled Legislature approves this new version, the GOP could further expand its dominance in Washington. Nixon urged her fellow lawmakers to reject the plan and called on Florida residents to protest the move.
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If passed, the new boundaries would define the political landscape for the 2026 midterm elections, though legal challenges regarding the state’s anti-gerrymandering laws are expected to follow almost immediately.
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