South Florida Democrats may be knocked out of Congress by DeSantis’ new FL map
The Broward and Palm Beach County congressional districts represented by Democratic mainstays Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Lois Frankel will favor Republican candidates instead when voters head to the polls this November, according to new voting maps proposed Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
The proposed maps would eliminate four of Florida’s eight Democratic-friendly congressional districts in a state with 28 U.S. House members. The Orlando-area district held by Democrat Darren Soto and Tampa-area district held by Rep. Kathy Castor would also favor Republicans, according to the proposal, which DeSantis’ office provided first to Fox News.
South Florida, where there are now five Democrats elected to the House of Representatives, would only feature three left-leaning districts. The new districts would likely pit Democratic incumbents against each other in the August primaries, or force some of them to run in Republican-friendly districts. Much of Rep. Jared Moskowitz’s current district, for example, is drawn into Congressional District 25 — currently represented by Wasserman Schultz — in DeSantis’ proposed map.
The Florida Legislature is set to begin a special session tomorrow to discuss and vote on the maps.
What isn’t clear yet is whether the maps released by DeSantis’ office will reshuffle voters into new districts in a way that makes current Republican seats more competitive for Democrats in November.
After a string of Democratic special-election wins across the country, Democrats have been bullish about flipping seats in Florida. The major Democratic super political action committee House Majority PAC made initial advertising buys worth $20 million in Florida last week — their first ad buy in the state since 2020.
Wasserman Schultz’s and Frankel’s offices did not immediately comment on the proposed maps.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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