Redistricting rules prohibit maps drawn to favor party - Opinion [View all]

[In It to Win It]

https://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/2026/01/02/redistricting-rules-prohibit-maps-drawn-to-favor-party-opinion/87965756007/

Florida’s redistricting rules are under stress right now, at a moment when the fundamental question — who gets to pick our representatives — is being tested in real time. That question was answered clearly by Florida voters in 2010, when they adopted the Fair Districts Amendments to place constitutional limits on partisan gerrymandering. Yet today, as former President Trump advances a vision of politics dominated by a single party at both the national and state levels, redistricting has again become a tool for consolidating power.

In Tallahassee, that pressure is evident. The House speaker has pushed to move congressional redistricting forward immediately, while the governor has suggested waiting until closer to the 2026 election — timing that would reduce the likelihood that courts could fully review or overturn new maps before they take effect. These are not procedural disagreements; they go to the heart of whether Florida’s constitutional safeguards will be honored or bypassed.

Those safeguards were put in place deliberately. In 2010, Florida voters overwhelmingly approved the Fair Districts Amendments — Amendment 5 for state legislative districts and Amendment 6 for congressional districts — by nearly 63 percent, well above the 60 percent threshold required to amend the state Constitution. That broad support reflected a clear, bipartisan message: district lines should not be drawn to favor or disfavor political parties or incumbents; minority voters must not be denied an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice; and districts should be contiguous, compact, and respectful of existing political boundaries where feasible. Voters embedded these principles in the Constitution precisely because earlier redistricting cycles had produced maps widely viewed as engineered for political advantage.

The stakes are substantial. Florida’s current congressional delegation already reflects a significant imbalance: Republicans hold 20 of the state’s 28 U.S. House seats. Under proposals now being discussed, analysts estimate that redistricting could add as many as five additional Republican-leaning seats, leaving only three of Florida’s 28 districts with a clear Democratic lean. Such an outcome would not reflect population change; it would reflect map design. That is precisely the type of distortion the Fair Districts Amendments were intended to prevent.