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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ invitations to “f-around and find out” on redistricting efforts in Florida, the next possible battleground in a nationwide struggle to gain partisan advantages from congressional district maps.
“Please. Be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida to campaign,” DeSantis said. “I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion, we will take you fishing.”
“There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries everywhere around this state.”
His comments follow remarks from Jeffries on Wednesday morning.
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“Our message to Florida Republicans is f-around and find out. If they go down the road of a DeSantis dummy-mander … the electoral tide is turning in Florida,” Jeffries said.
The standoff demonstrates both parties’ resolve to double down on gerrymandering as a strategy central to winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the upcoming 2026 midterms.
Since President Donald Trump urged state lawmakers to expand the GOP’s 217-213 majority by eliminating five Democratic seats in Texas, states including North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, New York and Georgia have followed suit.
Most recently, voters in Virginia approved a redistricting effort spearheaded by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, to turn her party’s 6-5 advantage in the Commonwealth into a 10-1 majority by extending Republican-leaning districts into Democratic strongholds.
Florida is developing plans to be next.
With a Republican trifecta and eight Democratic-held districts to carve up, DeSantis has called a special session this week to explore the Sunshine State’s options.
“Today, I announced that I will be convening a Special Session of the Legislature focused on redistricting to ensure that Florida’s congressional maps accurately reflect the population of our state,” DeSantis said in his January announcement, citing changing demographics in the state.
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Florida’s state constitution forbids individual districts from being drawn “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.”
Democrats, who have framed their redistricting efforts as retaliatory, have warned that Republicans are stretching their support too thin in some areas, diluting their advantage and inviting challenges in districts that haven’t been competitive in the past.
Jeffries believes that might be the case in Texas — and that it could be the case for Florida too.
“The Florida Republicans are going to find themselves in the same situation as Texas Republicans who are on the run right now,” Jeffries said.
“Under no circumstances are Texas Republicans picking up five seats. They’ll be fortunate if they get two or three, while in California, we are going to get all five. The Republicans are dumbly meandering their way into the minority before a single vote is cast,” Jeffries added.
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Florida legislators have yet to unveil what their potential redistricting effort could look like.
Currently, Republicans hold 20 of the state’s 28 seats.
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