Lawsuit filed to block new Florida congressional map after redistricting

ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s new congressional map is now official.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on X.com that he signed the redistricting bill lawmakers passed last week with a simple post showing the map, with the words “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered.”

A few hours later, the first lawsuit was announced.

The new map redraws a number of districts, particularly in Central Florida, the Tampa area, and South Florida.

DeSantis pushed for the mid-decade redistricting for a few reasons.

1. He said the influx of new residents after the 2020 Census necessitated a new map.
2. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais would end drawing maps to favor minority representation.

However, another reason is that President Trump called on Republican states to redraw congressional maps to better favor Republicans and hopefully hold onto the U.S. House majority in the midterm elections in November.

[INTERACTIVE: Slide the middle bar to see how the district map would change if approved]

The map, which DeSantis’ office drew, seeks to remove several Democratic majority districts and maximize Republican majority districts in the state.

For instance, the new map redraws U.S. House District 9, a majority Hispanic district, so that it now stretches from Orange County down to Glades County, adding more registered Republicans.

The map is expected to come under legal scrutiny from several groups, however, because critics say it flies in the face of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment, which was overwhelmingly passed in 2010. That amendment to the Florida Constitution says maps cannot be drawn to favor an incumbent or a political party. Districts are also supposed to be drawn to be compact.

On Monday afternoon, prominent election lawyer Marc Elias filed a lawsuit in Florida’s Second Circuit Court in Leon County, seeking to block the map from being used, on behalf of the Equal Ground Education Fund and several Florida voters.

“The 2026 Plan was not compelled by any legal mandate or neutral justification,” the lawsuit reads. “It cannot, for example, be explained by a desire to adhere to traditional redistricting principles. Indeed, although the map no longer even attempts to comply with the Fair Districts Amendment’s protections for minority voters, which the Governor has argued requires traditional redistricting principles to be compromised, the 2026 Plan is less compact and introduces more county and city splits than the 2022 Plan.”

“The 2026 Plan can only be explained by the same purpose that has been openly stated for months: to maximize Republican congressional representation,” the lawsuit adds.

You can read the full complaint HERE.

[POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: Florida’s special session on redistricting]