Florida lawmakers begin redistricting session, GOP eyes more House seats

Ron DeSantis handed Florida lawmakers a new congressional map on Monday, just about 24 hours before they were set to open a special session that could strengthen Republican control of the state’s U.S. House delegation. Republicans already hold 20 of Florida’s 28 seats, and analysts said the new lines could put as many as five Democratic-held districts in play, with the most vulnerable seats concentrated in South Florida and the Orlando area.

The governor first announced the special session on congressional redistricting on January 7, and the proclamation originally set lawmakers to meet from April 20 through April 24 in Tallahassee. He later pushed the session back to April 28 through May 1. DeSantis said the redraw was meant to make Florida’s maps reflect population changes and to align the state with an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd also declared 2026 a year of apportionment for candidate qualification.

The timing has turned Florida into one of the sharpest test cases in the national redistricting fight. The push is tied to Donald Trump’s call for red states to redraw maps ahead of the 2026 midterms, and Florida is now one of the last big Republican opportunities to squeeze out more House seats. Texas already redrew its lines, California answered with its own maps, and Virginia voters approved a map that could give Democrats up to four additional seats. In that larger map war, analysts have said Florida could be Republicans’ best remaining chance to regain ground.

Florida last redrew its congressional districts in 2022, making this a rare mid-decade attempt to reshape the map before voters go to the polls. That unusual timing is part of what makes the fight so explosive. Some analysts have said Republicans might try to flip between two and five districts, though the lower end appears more likely. One University of Central Florida political scientist warned that if Florida does not redraw its maps, Republicans would be “back to square one” in the national battle for House control.

The legal fight is likely to be just as intense as the political one. Florida law bars redrawing congressional or state legislative maps for partisan gain or to help or hurt incumbents, but DeSantis’s legal team argues those limits may no longer hold after a Florida Supreme Court ruling upholding the current congressional map. The same memo says the new plan removes districts that were previously drawn with protections for minority voters. Democrats say the move is unconstitutional gerrymandering, and lawsuits are expected as soon as the Legislature takes up the map in Tallahassee.