April 29, 2026 Story by: Publisher
Florida lawmakers finalized a new congressional map Wednesday, April 29, that could position Republicans to gain four additional U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. The state House approved the plan in an 83-28 vote, followed hours later by the state Senate’s 21-17 vote for final passage.
The Florida Legislature moved one step closer on Tuesday, April 28 to finalizing its new congressional boundaries after key panels in both the House and Senate advanced a Republican-backed redistricting proposal.
The move, which occurred during a high-stakes special session, signals a significant victory for state leadership as they push to implement a map that could reshape the state’s political landscape for the remainder of the decade.
The proposed map, which advanced through the House State Affairs Committee and the Senate Reapportionment Committee, setting the stage for a full floor vote in both chambers as early as next week.
If signed into law, the new boundaries will likely have national implications, potentially shifting several competitive districts into more reliably Republican territory. This effort in Tallahassee is part of a broader national trend of mid-decade redistricting, as both major parties look to maximize their advantages ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The governor’s map, if approved, would reshape districts in Democratic areas around Orlando, Tampa Bay, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. DeSantis argued that the 2020 census shortchanged the state’s population, making it necessary to redraw the lines. The changes could cost Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others, their seats. The current maps yielded a 20 to 8 Republican tilt in 2024. DeSantis’ version would aim for an advantage of 24 to 4.
District 20
District 20 was created to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act, which is intended to protect the voting power of racial minorities when district lines are drawn.
Under the proposed map, District 20 would no longer include Palm Beach County and would instead be redrawn entirely within Broward County. That would move Palm Beach County voters currently in District 20 into other districts.
For decades, the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings represented District 20, a historically Black district spanning parts of Palm Beach and Broward counties.
The current District 20 includes cities such as Riviera Beach, Lake Park, Mangonia Park, Lauderdale Lakes, and Tamarac.
Attorneys for DeSantis say that language violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that the Florida Supreme Court indicated agreement with that position when it approved the governor’s 2022 redistricting map last year.
They maintain the race-based requirements of the FDA “cannot be severed” from the other parts of the 2010 Constitutional amendments, like the provision banning partisan gerrymandering.
“The PDA was sold to the voters as a package. There was no severability provision included in the FDA when it was presented to the voters. And because one part is unconstitutional, there’s limited reason to think that voters could have approved the remaining parts by themselves,” wrote DeSantis attorney David Axelman in a letter accompanying the new map sent to state lawmakers on Monday.
The map (HB 1D) passed the House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting by a party-line vote. The Senate Rules Committee also passed their (SB 8-D) on Tuesday, with three Republicans (Senators Jennifer Bradley, Ileana Garcia and Erin Grall) joining NPA Senator Jason Pizzo and all of the Democrats to vote against it.
The map goes to the floor in both chambers on Wednesday.
The filing deadline to run for Congress in Florida is 12 June, and party primary votes are held on 18 August.
The staff of Republican governor Ron DeSantis has reportedly been drafting a map in secret to be presented on Tuesday. A memo from state senate president Ben Albritton to members said “the senate is not drafting or producing a map for introduction during the special session.
Florida currently sends 20 Republicans and eight Democrats to Congress.
DeSantis originally called for lawmakers to meet April 20, but then delayed the session by a week.
Florida SAVE Act
Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Florida SAVE Act” (HB 991) into law, ushering in a sweeping set of new voting regulations that proponents call a victory for election integrity but critics denounce as a targeted effort to disenfranchise millions of residents.
The GOP-controlled Florida House approved the measure, 77-28. The vote came after the Senate approved the measure, mostly along party lines, 27-12.
The bill signing, held in the Republican stronghold of The Villages, was met with immediate resistance. Within hours of the Governor’s signature, a coalition of civil rights organizations including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), the League of Women Voters of Florida, and Hispanic advocacy groups filed federal lawsuits to block the measure.
Data from the state said that 20.6 million people in Florida had a REAL-ID-compliant driver’s license, State Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, told lawmakers, according to reporting by the Florida Phoenix.
The state counted 872,408 Floridians who did not have that valid form of identification.
In 2025, the state identified 198 “likely noncitizens who illegally registered and/or voted in Florida,” according to a January 2026 report by the state Office of Election Crimes and Security. With more than 13 million people on Florida’s voter rolls, that’s a rate of less than 0.0015%.
The Florida SAVE Act, which mirrors federal legislation championed by President Donald Trump, introduces several strict requirements scheduled to take effect in 2027:
Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 991 into law, which intends to strengthens election integrity in the State of Florida in several key ways:
- Requires verification of U.S. citizenship using REAL ID data for new and updated voter registrations.
- Establishes a clear process to identify and remove potentially ineligible noncitizens from voter rolls.
- Allows individuals to provide documentation to confirm eligibility.
- Adds explicit notice that submitting false voter registration information is a felony.
- Enhances coordination between state and local agencies to identify potentially ineligible voters.
- Requires supervisors of elections to investigate and take appropriate action.
- Requires voting to be conducted using paper ballots, ensuring a verifiable record of every vote.
- Updates identification requirements to ensure only secure, government-issued IDs are accepted.
- Requires candidates to affirm they meet all legal qualifications for office.
- Mandates disclosure of dual citizenship.
- Requires federal candidates to disclose stock trading activity while in office.
- Prevents last-minute name changes intended to mislead voters.
- Establishes a legal process to challenge candidate eligibility.
- Establishes a five-year statute of limitations for felony election offenses.
- Cracks down on election fraud and petition-related misconduct.
- Prohibits candidates, political committees, and parties from knowingly accepting foreign contribution.
In response, Legal Defense Fund Director of Policy Demetria McCain issued the following statement:
“While using the false narrative about voter fraud, Florida legislators and its governor are moving our democracy back to Jim Crows days at the expense of millions of voters. Bills like Florida’s SAVE Act that saddle voters with expensive and burdensome document requirements in order to access our elections are poll taxes in disguise, strategically designed to disenfranchise people who have already faced historical discrimination at the ballot.”
The lawsuits specifically highlight the burden on:
- Black Voters: Elderly Black voters may lack necessary documentation if they were born outside of hospitals during the Jim Crow era and never issued a birth certificate.
- Students: The elimination of student IDs as a valid form of identification is seen as a direct barrier to younger voters.
As the state prepares for the 2026 midterms under existing rules, the 2027 implementation of the SAVE Act sets the stage for a protracted legal battle over the balance between election security and voter accessibility in one of the nation’s most critical swing states.
Source: Central Florida Public Media / NAACP LDF / The Guardian
