Florida's Legislature approved Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed map that redraws several congressional districts, which could give Republicans a bigger edge.
With the stroke of the governor's pen, four districts currently represented by Democrats will become much more Republican.
One involves the Tampa Bay area, where Democrat Kathy Castor's District 14 seat would include more conservative, rural areas.
On "The Florida Roundup," Castor called the drawing "blatantly unconstitutional" and believes doing this without public input is disrespectful.
DeSantis justified the mid-decade boundary change, citing the state's population changes. He has also leaned heavily on whether race should be considered when drawing political borders. Florida's constitution bans partisan considerations when determining borders. It also bans limiting racial or language minority groups' power to elect their own representatives.
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House bill sponsor state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, expects the map will hold up against expected lawsuits.
"It is a very difficult exercise," Persons-Mulicka said. "Again, there is an infinite number of maps that can be drawn compliant with redistricting criteria, but I believe the map before us today is a good map and based on viable legal theories and likely to be upheld."
University of Florida political science professor Dan Smith said there has been mid-decade redistricting in Florida before as a result of legal challenges to uphold the "Fair Districts" amendments, which 60% of voters passed in 2010. Those amendments said the state cannot draw districts that disadvantage racial ethnic minorities, but it also can't draw districts that advantage or disadvantage a political party or incumbent.
WUSF's Douglas Soule reports DeSantis argues the amendment is moot because the part saying districts can't be drawn in ways weakening minority voters' abilities to participate or elect candidates of their choice is unconstitutional.
"There was no severability provision included in the (Fair Districts amendments) when it was presented to the voters," DeSantis' office wrote in a memo to lawmakers. "And because one part is unconstitutional, there's little reason to think that voters would have approved the remaining parts by themselves."
ALSO READ: DeSantis slammed for ripping up voter-approved Florida amendment in gerrymandering push
Smith said this year's mid-decade redistricting was different and "quite clearly to advantage one political party." He said one basic standard to determine what's fair for districts is to take statewide votes.
"How did the two parties fare with respect to top of the tickets in gubernatorial or presidential elections? And think about how many seats, if we took that as a fair share, should each political party get," Smith asked.
On "The Florida Roundup," Castor also said the new map poses issues for Tampa Bay communities and makes it more difficult for representatives to serve their districts.
The interview below has been edited for clarity and brevity.
You've called this map "blatantly illegal." On what grounds do you find it illegal?
Our Florida constitution states very clearly that congressional districts may not be drawn to favor or disfavor a political party.
The constitution says that congressional districts should be contiguous. They should be compact. They need to take into account existing county and geographic boundaries, and that is intended to respect — not divide — communities.
And what has happened with this blatantly unconstitutional redrawing of the maps without public input is you're disrespecting. It's an intentional poke in the eye, especially to my communities here in the Tampa Bay area.
The city of Tampa now, they have divided East Tampa from West Tampa from South Tampa, crafted into five different districts. And in St Petersburg, folks are apoplectic because they've now been drawn into a district that connects them across Tampa Bay by the Skyway bridge, miles and miles away to Hardee and DeSoto counties.
Will you run for reelection in District 14?
I certainly hope that the Florida Supreme Court is composed of independent jurists and not puppets of Gov. DeSantis. So as of right now, yes, I will run in District 14. That's where my home is. They're still MacDill Air Force Base and Central Command, Special Operations Command, — the best airport in the country, the Tampa airport, Port Tampa Bay. Tampa's Riverwalk.
ALSO READ: Here's how a new congressional map could cost Democrats seats across Florida
But now it will also contain more rural areas of Hillsborough County that I have not had the pleasure of representing before. But it is a bizarre, unconstitutional draw.
The Hillsborough County Democratic Party told the Tampa Bay Times that the current 14th and the new 14th boundary swings 21 points from Democrat to Republican. Are the issues different in the current 14th and the newly imagined 14th district that you said you will run for reelection in?
They are a little bit different, but right now — overwhelmingly — it's the cost of living that's impacting everyone.
But what they do when they draw boundaries that don't make sense and to favor a political party is it's an effort to avoid accountability for their policies.
How do you see the role of NPAs, independents, non-party affiliates, in the newly drawn 14th District and how that compares to the current district that you were elected to represent two years ago?
They're up for grabs. You represent everyone, you fight for every vote. That's why I've been successful in always ... overperforming President Obama and (President) Biden and Kamala Harris (at the polls) because I have a record of serving everyone, no matter their political party.
It doesn't matter when you call my office if you have a problem with the IRS, we're going to cut through the bureaucratic red tape to do so. And that's how voters expect you to act.
But here, when you create such one-sided districts, you don't have the same communities of interest — you don't have the same cohesion. It's more difficult for a representative to serve a community if they have to travel 100 miles or two hours in the Florida traffic.
The census is dictated in the U.S. Constitution to hold one a decade. It's left up to the states to kind of decide how and when to redraw those political boundaries. Would you support congressional regulation on the frequency of congressional redistricting in the states?
Yes. I think we've got to follow the basic ground rules here in our democracy.
Would you go further and try to pass legislation?
We may need to do that after this very partisan call by (President) Trump to rig elections to operate outside of the census and the regular apportionment of congressional boundaries we made.
There is a lot we're going to have to do to shore up democracy, the foundations of democracy, and this is crying out for reform.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
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