JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The fight over redistricting in Florida could come to a head next week when state lawmakers meet in a special session.
Republican lawmakers announced this week they will support Governor Ron DeSantis's redrawn maps. The way DeSantis wants the new lines to be drawn could help his party pick up four seats in Congress.
A large part of the fight is because DeSantis wants to get rid of Florida's 5th Congressional District, which runs from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. Getting rid of this district, which Democrat Al Lawson currently represents, would get rid of districts where Black voters make up a large amount of the vote.
It would also make it harder for Democrats to win. For Jacksonville, DeSantis's map would redraw the lines across two districts that lean Republican.
Many lawmakers and activists look at this and see Black voters' voices getting diminished. Lawson says breaking apart the district would get rid of minority access to Congress. DeSantis says he'll veto any map that doesn't break the 5th Congressional District, saying he wants what he calls a "race neutral" map of districts.
Since Florida has a Republican-controlled legislature, next week his maps are expected to get approved. According to a top map consultant, DeSantis's maps would create 20 districts that would have voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and eight that would have voted for President Joe Biden. What this means for this November is that Republicans could gain four more House seats and Democrats could lose three.
The deadline is June to approve the map and resolve any lawsuits against it.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is said to be watching the re-districting process closely. First Coast News' partners at the Florida Times-Union report Curry may be looking at a race for Congress.
Curry cannot run for mayor again because of term limits. If he were to run for Congress in November, that would leave an open seat for mayor and City Council President Sam Newby would step in until there's an election. The next mayoral election is next March.