ORLANDO, Fla.  — On Tuesday, Florida lawmakers will reconvene for a special session in Tallahassee to decide one thing  — a new congressional district map for the state. Democrats say the governor’s proposed district map could give Republicans more seats in Congress — and tip the slim Democratic majority there to the Republicans.

What You Need To Know

  •  Florida lawmakers will reconvene for a special session this week to decide a new congressional district map for the state

  • Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected a district map drawn up by Florida GOP lawmakers and recently drew up one of his own

  • Both parties expect legal challenges to be filed despite the outcome of the districting decision

After Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected a new congressional district map drawn up by Florida GOP lawmakers, he drew up one of his own. UCF political science professor Aubrey Jewett says the governor’s map would send more Republicans to Congress.

“Twenty would lean Republican, and only eight would lean Democratic, and that would be a very different partisan result than what we currently have,” said Jewett.

Democrats say the governor’s map would eliminate a district in North Florida that’s made up by mostly black voters and now represented by a Black Democrat.

“We are losing democratic representation,” said Wes Hodge, a Democratic political analyst. 

“This state is roughly a third Republican, a third Democratic and a third NPA, and we’ll have a Republican supermajority in our congressional districts if this plays out.”

But Republicans argue those elected to office have a right to make the changes.

“It’s important to remember that our governor and our legislature in Florida is duly elected by the citizens of Florida, by the voters of Florida. That is what they are elected to do and that is what they are tasked with,” said Eddie Fernandez, a Republican political analyst.  “This governor is proposing this, he is trying to avoid racial gerrymandering."

And what happens in Florida could not only affect the balance of power in the state, but in the entire country.

“Democrats only have about a five-seat lead up in Congress, so if Florida creates about four more districts that will probably go Republican, they’ve almost gained enough to take control of Congress from the changes in Florida, and Gov. DeSantis would get the credit for that,” said Jewett.

Jewett says even though lawmakers are meeting for a special session, he doesn’t believe the republican lawmakers, who have the majority, will make many changes to the governor’s map. If they challenge it and the two sides can’t agree, the courts could end up drawing a new map.

Both Democrats and Republicans expect whatever map is decided on, that legal challenges will be filed, but legal analysts say even if those challenges are filed, they likely won’t be in time to stop the new map from impacting the next two election cycles in 2022 and 2024.