Florida Republicans are growing increasingly alarmed that Gov. Ron DeSantis's aggressive redistricting push could backfire spectacularly and hand Democrats seats instead of Republicans — and Tuesday's stunning special election results have only deepened their anxiety.
Democrats flipped two Florida state legislative seats Tuesday, including a Palm Beach County district that contains Mar-a-Lago, where President Donald Trump lives and votes. While GOP leaders publicly brushed off the losses as anomalies, privately some Republicans are sounding the alarm.
"We keep saying these are kind of one-off things that haven’t gone our way," one Florida House Republican granted anonymity told Politico. "But I’m not seeing any of the one-offs that are going our way."
“To talk as aggressively as some of what we’ve heard, there’s no way to get there without significantly weakening some districts,” that lawmaker added.
DeSantis has called a special legislative session in April to pursue an aggressive redraw of district lines, which could weaken incumbent Republicans' margins just as Democratic enthusiasm surges.
Rep. Greg Steube put it even more bluntly, warning that seats Republicans previously won by eight or nine points could be shaved to four or five, well within Democratic reach in a wave election.
"I’ve been around enough reapportionments to know it can come back and bite you," added Rep. Daniel Webster.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries happily twisted the knife.
"We will crush House Republicans in November if DeSantis tries to gerrymander the Florida congressional map," he posted Tuesday night.
DeSantis so far has shown no signs of backing down.
