But even though the new map approved by Republicans would increase their advantage, DeSantis made clear he remains opposed to it.
“I will veto the congressional reapportionment plan currently being debated by the House. DOA,” DeSantis said on Twitter.
Despite DeSantis issuing a blunt warning, the Florida House went ahead and approved the new map by a 67-47 vote, with seven Republicans voting with Democrats against the proposal. In the Senate, the vote was 24-15, with one Democrat, Sen. Audrey Gibson, breaking ranks and voting yes. Gibson, who is from Jacksonville and is leaving office due to term limits, could run in the new district that Republicans crafted to replace Lawson’s seat.
Senate Republicans contended the latest proposal was constitutional, but DeSantis during a morning press conference said he would not back down because he and his lawyers had “legal concerns.”
“I don’t bluff,” DeSantis said. “What makes you think when I say I’m going to do something that I’m not going to follow through? I don’t make declarations lightly.”
Senate Democrats lashed out at DeSantis, with Sen. Randolph Bracy, an Orlando Democrat, saying “what is clear is that he wants to remove Black districts.”
Lawson, in a statement after the Senate approved the proposals, said the Legislature approved maps that violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act as well as Florida’s anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts provision, and will ultimately lead to Black voters in North Florida having less electoral power. The state’s Fair Districts standards maintain legislators cannot draw lines intended to favor or disfavor an incumbent.
“The primary map adopted today by the Florida Legislature was drawn with the clear intent to create additional seats for one political party at the expense of Black voters,” he said.
Republicans defended their proposed map on Friday and said it followed both federal law and voter-approved anti-gerrymandering provisions that in the state Constitution.
“For what it’s worth, with all my heart I believe we are doing the right thing,” said state Rep. Tyler Sirois, a Merritt Island Republican and chair of the House Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee.
DeSantis’ warning to his fellow Republicans comes as other parts of his legislative agenda — particularly big spending decisions — remain unfulfilled. Lawmakers have until next Tuesday to finish budget negotiations to finish the session on time.
During the House redistricting debate, Democrats questioned why Republicans were moving ahead with the map, especially since they made changes that were supposed to win over the governor’s support.
“This map doesn’t just have significant problems on this floor, or in the courts, this map has significant problems even leaving the building,” said state Rep. Evan Jenne, a Dania Beach Democrat who read DeSantis’ tweet on the House floor.
State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith quipped: “The Florida House of Representatives just got played.”
House Speaker Chris Sprowls, however, defended the map, telling legislators after the vote that “I am proud of the product you just passed off this floor.”
The process of drawing new congressional maps was going relatively smoothly until DeSantis — a rising Republican star and potential 2024 contender — surprised many in January by proposing his own maps that called for dismantling two seats now held by Black Democrats.
Florida picked up one congressional seat in 2022 due to population growth for a total of 28. Republicans currently hold a 16 to 11 edge and DeSantis’ proposal would likely give Republicans a bigger advantage, boosting the number of seats former President Donald Trump would have won in 2020 to 18.
The Senate, however, bucked the governor and passed a map in January that would have kept Republicans at 16 seats. DeSantis then asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in on whether Lawson’s seat — which joins Black neighborhoods in Tallahassee and Jacksonville — was constitutional. The court declined the governor’s request, but afterwards DeSantis continued to threaten to veto any map that kept Lawson’s seat intact.
Last week, the House released a new map that wiped out Lawson’s seat and instead replaced it with one in Jacksonville that House Republicans say should still guarantee the election of a Black candidate. House Republicans said they drew up the revised proposal to address the “novel legal theory” advanced by the governor. The legislation also includes a second map that keeps Lawson’s seat the way it is if a court strikes down the first map.
Yet the move appears to have not appeased DeSantis.
Democrats scorned the new House map for several reasons, including the decision to revamp Lawson’s seat, which currently includes Black voters living in Gadsden County, Florida’s only Black majority county.
Sen. Loranne Ausley, a Tallahassee Democrat, contended the map was unconstitutional because it targeted Lawson for defeat, which she said ran afoul of the state’s anti-gerrymandering provision.
“I think that’s a blatant violation,” Ausley said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated the number of Republicans who voted against approving a new congressional map. Seven Republicans voted against the proposal.