Florida’s newly drawn congressional lines will be used during the 2026 midterm elections, after the state Supreme Court rejected an attempt by outside groups to block the new Republican-drawn plan.
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The challengers asked a Florida judge to grant a temporary injunction against the maps being used in the midterms as an underlying legal challenge plays out.
The new maps are a win for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump’s broader mid-decade redistricting efforts.
At the urging of the White House, a number of Republican states last year started redrawing their political lines to create more GOP-leaning seats, as the party tries to hold onto a slim House majority. Democratic-led states followed suit, but Republicans are set to net more seats from redistricting in the next election..
The new maps make 24 of Florida’s 28 congressional seats GOP-leaning, though several of those districts are still expected to see competitive campaigns. Florida’s House delegation currently includes 20 Republicans and eight Democrats.
The state Supreme Court’s majority said it did not have jurisdiction over the case, an assertion supported by the six members of the court that DeSantis appointed. The lone dissenter was Justice Jorge Labarga, who was appointed by former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
Labarga did not agree the court lacked jurisdiction, and also was concerned the decision would have on the upcoming midterm elections.
“For a second time in fewer than three years, in a substantively similar context, the district court has elected a path of delayed appellate review,” Labarga wrote. “Only this time, the votes of even more Floridians are at stake.”
DeSantis was quick to take a victory lap.
“The Florida Supreme Court has REJECTED the challenge to the state’s redistricting plan and new map,” DeSantis posted on social media. “This assures that the recently enacted map will be in place for the 2026 election.”
The court’s decision ensures the maps will be used in the upcoming election, but an underlying legal challenge of the maps will continue.
The legal challenge to the maps is being led by Common Cause, the Campaigns Legal Center, and Equal Ground Florida.
They argue that the maps violated the state’s Fair Districts amendments — anti-gerrymandering language in the state constitution. Under that voter-approved amendment, maps can not be drawn to favor or disfavor one political party, and there are protections for districts drawn for minority groups to be able to elect candidates of choice.
DeSantis did not deny those accusations. He has argued that the map does not need to comply with Fair Districts because the minority protection language is at odds with federal law. He hopes to use this legal challenge to get the Florida Supreme Court to toss or water down the amendments.
Several sitting House Democrats have been affected by the new maps.
South Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz had his current 23rd Congressional District drastically reconfigured, so he is now running in the 25th Congressional District, which includes parts of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Trump won the seat by 9 points in 2024.
The new maps also drastically redrew the Orlando-area 9th Congressional District represented by Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, making it much more conservative. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris got 51% of the vote in the old version of the seat, while Trump won the newly-drawn version with 58% of the vote in 2024.
The Tampa-area 14th Congressional District held by Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor also got much more Republican-leaning. In 2024, Trump won the new version of the seat with 54% of the vote.
One of the biggest byproducts of the new map is a huge new political challenge for 14-term Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Her current South Florida seat changed dramatically, so she has decided to run in the 20th Congressional District, a Democratic-leaning seat that was originally drawn to help African Americans elect a candidate of their choosing.
Because the seat is considered a Black access seat, Wasserman Schultz, who is white, has been taking criticism from Black elected officials and the four Black candidates that had already announced they were running for the seat. Wasserman Schultz has raised $2.5 million, significantly more than any other candidate running in the seat.
“I would not have expected the call would come from inside the house,” said Elijah Manley, a teacher and activist running for the seat, told NBC News earlier this month. “I didn’t think a white Democrat would be the one to take away a Black seat.”
When Wasserman Schultz announced she was running for the seat, the major Black candidates in the race discussed the idea of consolidating the field to ensure a one-on-one matchup with her, rather than splitting the Black vote with all of them in the race.
Candidate qualifying in Florida ends Friday. On Thursday, Manley was the only one who had already formally qualified with the state.
