Back in late April, Florida redrew its congressional map at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ urging just as the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais was being handed down. As we reported, Republicans hold 20 of Florida’s 28 congressional seats. The new map, if it survives the current court challenges, could potentially net them another four seats in the upcoming midterm elections.
On Wednesday, a ruling was handed down in a lawsuit filed over the map, a ruling that effectively puts the Sunshine State one step closer to being able to use it:
A Florida judge refused Tuesday to block a recently adopted congressional map that could net Republicans four extra seats in Congress from the Sunshine State.
The decision by Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes, appointed to the bench by Gov. Ron DeSantis, doesn’t end the legal battle. But it greatly increases the likelihood that the map will be in place for the 2026 midterms while the underlying challenge continues.
[…]
The judge contended one reason to keep the new map — which was passed late last month by the GOP-controlled Legislature — was to avoid confusion ahead of the upcoming elections. Qualifying for congressional and state elections takes place the second week of June, and the primary will be held on Aug. 18.
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The judge also had concerns about the state’s current 20th Congressional District in light of the Callais ruling:
Further, the 2022 map was declared unconstitutional when the Governor and Legislature replaced it with the 2026 map challenged in this litigation. The political branch’s position was in anticipation of a changing legal landscape with the Supreme Court’s pending ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. Plaintiffs’ evidence focuses on challenging the constitutionality of the 2026 map, but does not sufficiently challenge the political branches’ finding that CD-20 in the 2022 map was drawn with impermissible racial intent.
Relatedly, there was this:
Noting that he had to weigh both the plaintiffs’ argument that the new map violated Florida’s ban on partisan redistricting and the state’s argument that its previous map violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, Judge Hawkes sided with the state, writing that “the potential partisan intent in the 2026 map is the lesser of the two evils.”
Gov. DeSantis and Florida’s Attorney General, James Uthmeier, cheered the ruling:
Once again, we beat Marc Elias.
Florida’s new congressional district maps stand.
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) May 26, 2026
Let’s roll! pic.twitter.com/rHzwf7fdCg
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 26, 2026
Representatives for the plaintiffs (which include Common Cause and Equal Ground Education Fund) in the three consolidated cases noted they’d take their battle to the Florida Supreme Court, which is filled with DeSantis appointees, if they had to, which obviously (for them) would need to happen pretty quickly. Stay tuned
