A Florida House redistricting committee held its first meeting on Thursday — in a room packed with opponents who were concerned state leaders plan to manipulate the U.S. congressional map for political gain.
And the committee wasn’t just out of sync with those opponents.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has indicated he wants a new map created next spring via a special session. But Republican Rep. Mike Redondo of Miami says waiting until after the legislative session, which starts in January and ends in late March, would be "irresponsible" with the 2026 election so soon.
The Senate hasn't announced what it wants to do. On Wednesday, Senate President Ben Albritton released a memo saying there is "no ongoing work regarding potential mid-decade redistricting" in his chamber.
"I intend for this to be the start of a healthy discussion about the foundations for our work ahead," Redondo said during the first meeting on Thursday.
Around 100 people from across the state rallied outside the Capitol then poured into the committee room.
It was an informational meeting, so the chair said no public comment was allowed. Still, Redondo tried to address their concerns.
"Let me be very clear, our work as a committee and as a legislative body is not directed by the work of other states or partisan gamesmanship. We may ultimately—" he said, before laughter from the audience cut him off.
Florida's current congressional map already disproportionately favors Republicans. At President Donald Trump's urging, Texas approved a congressional map adding five Republican-leaning seats. And he pressed other Republican states to do the same, igniting a redistricting battle between Democratic and GOP states.
"It is unclear to me how you would redistrict in this process when we already have maps: there is no new information, there's no new census, there's no new data," said Jonathan Webber, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Florida policy director. "So how would you redistrict, if not for partisan gain, is the question that I have. But if they do that, it will be illegal under the Florida Constitution."
In 2010, Florida voters approved state constitutional protections against partisan gerrymandering.
The House committee has another informational meeting next week.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
