Joseph Ax

(Reuters] – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed on Tuesday new maps for Congress drawn by Republican state legislators. A special legislative session was called in April to redraw these lines.

Florida’s 28th District will be added this year. This could impact the fight for control in November’s midterm elections.

Republicans will need to change five seats in order to gain a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives. It would allow them to block much of Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Florida is not among the five states to have completed its once-a decade congressional redistricting. Most states have a legislature that controls the redistricting process. This often leads to partisangerrymandering where district boundaries can be manipulated in order to advantage one party over another in elections.

According to Dave Wasserman (a Cook Political Report redistricting expert), Democrats may end up winning one or two seats in the United States through redistricting. The initial expectations were that Republicans would seize control over key states in order to secure a national advantage.

In states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania and North Carolina that have rejected Republican-backed maps, favorable court decisions in favor of Democrats have been a boon for them. It has also implemented its own aggressive gerrymanders in New York and Illinois.

The Democrats are still underdogs for a House majority due to Biden’s low approval rating and the fact the party loses most of its seats during midterm elections.

DeSantis is up for reelection and widely considered a leading contender for the White House in 2024. He had earlier taken an unusual step to propose his own congressional map instead of those currently being reviewed by legislators.

The plan would remove a Black-majority area, currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep Al Lawson. It stretches from Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Civil rights organizations and the governor disagree over whether any map must be preserved or destroyed under federal and state law.

DeSantis stated in a Tuesday statement that “we have the responsibility to produce maps of our citizens that don’t contain unconstitutional racist gerrymanders.”

Charlie Crist is a Florida Democratic Congressman and is running to challenge DeSantis. He tweeted that DeSantis veto was an “authoritarian game to rig democracy.”

Wasserman stated that DeSantis’ plan would allow Republicans to control as many as twenty of Florida’s congressional districts. This is an increase from the 16-11 split. Florida, Texas, and California have the most congressional districts.