Donalds says FL should counter Democrats by redistricting. That’s illegal here
Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds told a crowd in Coconut Creek Monday he wants the Florida Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional maps to help Republicans keep control of Congress — even though partisan gerrymandering is illegal in Florida.
Most Florida Republicans have been cautious when talking about the partisan implications of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ mid-decade redistricting efforts because Florida’s 2010 Fair Districts Amendment bars lawmakers from taking partisan politics into account.
But with the Florida Legislature set to return to Tallahassee next week to redraw congressional maps, Donalds spoke a quiet goal out loud: describing the effort as a way to bolster Republicans’ chances of maintaining control over the U.S. House of Representatives the next two years after blue states redrew their maps to favor Democrats.
“You have California and Virginia responding to Texas and we’ve been watching all this kind of happen in Florida,” Donalds, a Republican congressman from Naples, said. “Because of what now has been done in Virginia, now Florida needs to respond.”
But partisan gerrymandering is not illegal in those states like it is Florida.
“I’m quite sure the governor and the Legislature are going to comply with the Fair Districts like they always have,” Donalds said when asked about how his partisan aim squares with state law.
Donalds’ open admission and support for the partisan goals of Florida’s redistricting efforts come in sharp contrast to the advice Florida Senate President Ben Albritton gave lawmakers earlier this year, after DeSantis announced a special session focused on redistricting scheduled for next week.
Albritton gave senators “admonitions regarding redistricting” warning them to be careful who they talk to about the process because they could be forced to produce evidence of any conversations “with outside parties who may attempt to persuade the Legislature to pass maps that favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.”
Donalds’ comments also are in contrast to a set of his Republican colleagues who have warned the governor against redistricting, fearing it will put otherwise uncompetitive Republican seats back on the table for Democrats to flip.
“They need to be really careful,” Republican Miami Rep. Carlos Giménez told Punchbowl News. “By trying to create more, you may end up with less.”
After Donalds’ partisan defense of Florida’s redistricting effort Monday, he said he also supports the effort because the 2020 Census was “not done the best,” and he believes Florida’s population was undercounted in distributing congressional seats across the country.
“I think the governor and the Legislature are well within their rights to redistrict the state and I support them in this,” he said at an event promoting technical education programs.
Donalds has no official role in the redistricting process.
DeSantis — well-aware that a state judge could toss out any new maps if there’s evidence they were drawn for a partisan purpose — has defended the state’s redistricting effort as a response to a Supreme Court case about how states comply with the Voting Rights Act.
When he scheduled next week’s special session on the issue, he said he was giving extra time to wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling, but it has not yet come down.
DeSantis has continued defending the effort without that Supreme Court ruling, however, saying that the state needs to redraw maps because of its population growth over the past five years.
Meanwhile, the Florida Democratic Party has been beefing up a legal team to challenge the state’s mid-decade redistricting effort. They’re planing to argue the effort is purely partisan and in violation of the Fair Districts Amendment.
This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 4:48 PM.
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