As the Florida Legislature gets set to hold a special session on mid-decade redistricting, candidates are unsure where to campaign — and voters are unsure who they will be able to vote for.
Florida’s drive for congressional redistricting began after President Donald Trump pushed Texas to redraw its maps to add more Republican seats and implied that other state should do the same. In January, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis answered Trump’s request by calling for a special legislative session to address redistricting. That session will take place from April 20-24.
For Oliver Larkin, who has been running his campaign to unset incumbent Democrat Jared Moskowitz (D-Parkland) in Florida’s 23rd congressional district for nine months, it is a very consequential situation.
“[Redistricting] definitely comes up, a lot of people say ‘I think I'm gonna be able to vote for you,’” Larkin said. “ People really feel disenfranchised here.”
District 23 is shaped like the number seven, an odd shape as a result of a previous round of redistricting. It includes Boca Raton and a large swathe of northern Broward County, including Coconut Creek, Parkland and Deerfield Beach. The rest of the district is most of the east side of I-95 South to Port Everglades.
READ MORE: DeSantis plays down lack of Supreme Court opinion in justifying congressional redistricting effort
Around 30 people gathered in the Palms of Deer Creek clubhouse in Deerfield Beach for Larkin’s town hall event Monday night. Attendees echoed Larkin’s sentiments.
“ It's just really frustrating seeing all of this gerrymandering going on in South Florida,” said Ash Santoro, of Parkland. “It's really uncertain and a lot of people are probably getting their hopes up and then it turns out they're just gonna get written out of [the district] anyway.”
Bill Latimer of Deerfield Beach, who’s lived in the district since 2002, said he has seen it change greatly over the years.
“ I don't know how you could squeeze this district any further. I just don't see how the redistricting effort can actually do more than damage than what's already been done and squeeze the electorate into this district more than it's already been squeezed into,” he said.
It's not just Democrats who have grown weary of redistricting. Republicans have also expressed growing anxiety around the subject, especially after two upset wins by Democrats in special elections in March.
“Why would you knock on doors if you don’t know if those doors are gonna be in your district or not?” Rep. Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) told Politico. “I think the Legislature needs to be very cognizant of the fact that if they get too aggressive … you could put incumbent members at risk.”
Redistricting is unpopular with Floridians. A recent poll from Emerson College found that 56% of more than one thousand voters polled say redistricting is a “bad idea.”
Republicans maintain a 20-8 congressional seat advantage over Democrats in the state. New maps could look to expand that lead. Democratic seats that have been touted as vulnerable to redistricting efforts in South Florida include FL-20, FL-22, FL-23, and FL-24, held by Sheila Cherfiulus McCormick (D-Miramar), Lois Frankel (D-West Palm Beach), Moskowitz and Fredericka Wilson (D- Miami Gardens) respectively.
But its not all bad for Larkin and other candidates. Those running for the House of Representatives have until May 11 to file their ballot petitions. Normally Larkin’s campaign would need signatures from 1,337 registered voters in FL-23 — if not Larkin would have had to pay more than $10,000 to appear on the ballot. But due to redistricting, eligible signees have been expanded to any registered voter in the state.
Even if new maps are drawn at the end of April, legal challenges likely await any redistricting effort.
“ We've gotta know where we're gonna run. This is chaos,” said Larkin.
