Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ congressional redistricting plan, which may grant Republicans up to four new congressional districts, was approved by the Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday morning.
Lawmakers passed the measure with a vote of 83-28, which will likely flip four U.S. House seats to Republicans.
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democratic contender for the U.S. Senate from Jacksonville, interrupted the voting by yelling that the map “was out of order.”
Later on Wednesday, the Florida Senate was scheduled to vote on the map. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding Louisiana’s voting map, which found that legislators there had unlawfully utilized race to create a new majority-minority district, prompted that chamber to take a recess.
The House rejected a Democratic move to postpone in light of the decision on a voice vote.
DeSantis has previously stated that if the court ruled as he anticipated, the Legislature would be “forced” to redesign the state’s map.
“Called this one months ago,” the governor posted on social media. “The decision implicates a district in FL — the legal infirmities of which have been corrected in the newly-drawn (and soon to be enacted) map.”
If the Senate passes the map and DeSantis signs it into law, Florida would become the latest state to redistrict its congressional delegation in the middle of the decade, following red states such as Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.
This comes as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map on Wednesday and sharply limited the use of race in drawing district boundaries in a major ruling that could carry significant consequences for future House elections.
Louisiana had been ordered by lower courts to create a second majority-Black congressional district in 2024 to comply with Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which bars states from diluting minority voting strength.
The Trump administration and state officials challenged the revised map, arguing it amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
About one-third of Louisiana’s residents are African-American, and the state’s only two Democratic lawmakers in Congress (compared to four House Republicans) were elected from majority-black districts.
The justices initially addressed the Louisiana map case during the 2024-25 term. In an unusual move, they ordered both sides to restate their arguments to consider the implications of both the 14th and 15th Amendments. The 15th Amendment, in particular, prohibits states from denying citizens equal protection under the law or restricting their rights based on race.
The ruling carries immense weight, with two prominent voting rights organizations noting earlier that the removal or restriction of Section 2 will likely empower Republican-led legislatures to change the boundaries of as many as 19 congressional districts to their advantage, in order to comply with the court.
“However, it’s not clear if red states will be able to seize on the Supreme Court’s decision in time to significantly impact the 2026 midterms, in which Democrats are favored to retake the House of Representatives,” the New York Post reported.
This would enable mapmakers to emphasize Republican strengths.
Voting rights organizations aligned with the Democratic Party already warned that the removal or restriction of Section 2 could empower Republican-led legislatures to change the boundaries of as many as 19 congressional districts to their advantage.
Fair Fight Action and the Black Voters Matter Fund argue that if Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is invalidated, it could significantly increase the likelihood that Republicans will maintain control of the House of Representatives for years.
Research has identified 27 congressional seats nationwide that Republicans could benefit from if the current legal and political landscape remains unchanged.
Nineteen of these changes are directly tied to the potential loss of Section 2 protections.
The SCOTUS ruling will prompt many states to redraw maps ahead of November’s elections.