Florida’s 23rd congressional district, which includes the areas of northern Broward and Boca Raton, was the most competitive in the state in 2024. It's also one of the most affected by the proposed redistricting maps released by Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
According to DeSantis’s map, FL-23 is moving north to central Palm Beach County.
The area that it used to occupy would be divided into three districts: District 20, which contains most of central Broward, District 22, which stretches from Parkland up to the St. Lucie County line on Lake Okeechobee and across the state to Naples, and District 25, which hugs the coast from Boynton Beach to Miami.
READ MORE: DeSantis slammed for ripping up voter-approved Florida amendment in gerrymandering push
The district's incumbent, Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz, would now be located in District 22. He told Andrew Soleander of Axios that 50% of current FL-23 voters now reside in District 25, and that it was a “toss-up” as to which district he’d run in.
“I’m running for reelection. I’ll figure out what district I’m going to run in, I think there’s three districts I could choose,” he said.
Moskowitz’s primary opponent, Oliver Larkin, has been campaigning for ten months in FL-23, and lives in what would become FL-25. He decried the partisan motives of DeSantis’s redistricting plan and called it “chaos.”
“ The fact that Ron DeSantis released these maps in an exclusive to Fox News — color coded, like ‘We think this is going to be a Republican district, we think this is going to be a democratic district now...’ That seems like a bit of a tell, right?” Larkin said.
FL-25 is currently represented by Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She lives in Weston, which no longer falls within FL-25’s boundaries. She took special exception with DeSantis’s efforts to skirt Florida’s Fair Districts amendment, which 63% of statewide voters approved in 2010. That amendment said districts “shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice,” and also forbids Florida from drawing lines to “favor or disfavor” a specific political party.
“This clear effort to steal more seats for Republicans shows [DeSantis’] total contempt for Florida voters, who voted two-to-one in favor of a ban on partisan gerrymandering in our Constitution. This nakedly partisan scheme breaks state law,” she said.
While the maps favor Republicans statewide, the crowded Republican primary in FL-23 would be significantly impacted. Former Republican State Legislator George Moraitis said if the maps are passed he’ll immediately begin campaigning in FL-25. That includes campaigning in Miami Beach.
“ We were pretty heavily concentrated on Boca and East Broward County. And now we're gonna be a little further south in Broward and obviously Miami Beach. So that'll be the biggest challenge for us now is introducing ourselves,” he said.
Moraitis said the current construction of FL-23 and the proposed FL-25 are both “winnable configurations” for a Republican.
Scott Singer, the Republican former mayor of Boca Raton, has raised more than $1.3 million to fund his campaign in FL-23. He has yet to respond to WLRN’s request for comment.
