Florida special session is about manipulating midterms. Republicans, just say so | Opinion

By calling an April special session on redistricting, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing the bidding of President Donald Trump, who summoned Republicans across the nation to manipulate the midterm elections by drawing more GOP-friendly seats.

Of course, DeSantis and other Republicans won’t say that outright.

He has justified his push to redraw Florida’s congressional maps four months before the August primaries by arguing that the state’s population has grown and that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling may force Florida to do so. That ruling, potentially striking down what DeSantis called “racial gerrymandering” under the Voting Rights Act, could affect Florida districts where minorities can elect a candidate of their choice.

“We are going to do it in the later part of April, partially because there is a Supreme Court decision that’s going to affect the validity of some of these districts nationwide, including some of the districts in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

Nonsense. We know exactly why mid-decade redistricting has swept through several states — and it’s got nothing to do with a genuine desire to comply with the courts.

If Florida proceeds with redistricting, Republicans will have three to five more seats they are likely to win in November, Politico has reported. That could prevent the GOP from losing the U.S. House despite Trump’s low approval ratings.

Redistricting on the eve of an election means the probable outcome of an election would be predetermined — the districts would be redrawn to be sure that one party is favored — instead of letting candidates compete to convince voters to pick their platforms. And it’s blatantly undemocratic, no matter what legalese justification DeSantis may give.

And then there’s the fact that Florida’s constitution, through the voter-approved Fair Districts Amendment, bans drawing districts for partisan gain. That’s why state leaders have been careful not to say that’s their intent. If they redraw the maps so close to the elections, they may hinder any constitutional challenges that will certainly be filed in court.

Florida voters should be mad that their voices could be diluted if new district maps are drawn because Republicans know how much trouble they will have in the midterms under current maps. States normally redraw congressional seats once a decade after U.S. Census population counts are released — and Florida already did that in 2022.

We have little hope that Florida Republican lawmakers, who control both chambers of the Legislature, will follow the example of their counterparts in Indiana. In December, Republicans in the Indiana Senate rejected mid-decade redistricting despite facing threats of retaliation from the White House.

In fact, the biggest disagreement between Florida lawmakers and DeSantis isn’t whether to do mid-decade redistricting, but when. Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and others want to do it during the regular legislative session that began on Tuesday, instead of waiting until an April 20 special session. Perez set up a special committee to handle the issue. The committee has had, so far, two meetings.

The governor and lawmakers should look past the immediate reward of influencing the November midterms and consider the long-term ramifications of their effort. However, their own personal and partisan goals seem to outweigh common sense. DeSantis clearly still hopes to be the GOP presidential nominee one day.

If every few years, Republican and Democratic states redraw their maps to make seats more safely red or blue — as Texas, California and others have already done — competitive congressional districts that elect moderates will become virtually nonexistent. That will only worsen political polarization and congressional gridlock as more ideologically extreme candidates are elected. Not every member of Congress should be Marjorie Taylor Greene on the right or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the left.

Here’s some wishful thinking: Perhaps the bad blood between DeSantis and Perez will, in the end, stymie any redistricting efforts. (DeSantis did not shake Perez’s hand during an address to the Legislature on Tuesday, and Perez says the governor won’t even take his calls).

Florida should only be so lucky.