House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is being criticized as a monster hypocrite for vowing to block a redistricting effort in Florida after putting a great deal of money, time, and political capital into the redistricting ballot issue in Virginia.
On Tuesday, the Virginia ballot issue authorizing the state legislature to redraw congressional districts that would change the current 6-5 Democrat-to-Republican split to 10-1 Dems to GOP passed narrowly by just 3 points. The amendment was immediately blocked by a state judge who ruled the entire process unconstitutional. On Thursday, the state Supreme Court vowed to hear oral arguments regarding the fate of the amendment.
But in the meantime, Jeffries pledged to direct millions of dollars in a bid to block Florida’s Republican legislative supermajority from redrawing that state’s congressional districts in a move that could hand Republicans another five seats in DC – even though he went all-in for Virginia.
The New York Democrat’s announcement immediately drew the attention of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who taunted the minority leader, saying “there’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries … everywhere around this state.”
The minority leader responded by pointing to a report on Thursday stating that Democrat-aligned PACs would pour $20 million into House races in Florida, “making it clear that we’re on offense. That’s our Democratic gift to Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republicans, who he is putting in jeopardy.”
“Our message to Florida Republicans is, ‘F around and find out,’” Jeffries told reporters as he referenced next week’s redistricting legislative session.
The trading of trash talk between the congressman from New York and the two-term Sunshine State governor comes ahead of next week’s special session of the Florida legislature that DeSantis called to enact congressional redistricting to create additional right-leaning U.S. House seats.
Florida is the latest battleground between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats in the high-stakes showdown over congressional redistricting. Both parties have been redrawing the House district lines in states they control to gain partisan advantages heading into this year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its razor-thin congressional majority.
Florida Republicans face challenges ahead: they redrew House district lines four years ago, and the state constitution prohibits drawing maps for partisan advantage, known as gerrymandering. Also, Jeffries claimed, without providing evidence, that “the electoral tide is turning in Florida” despite the state losing its battleground status nearly a decade ago and becoming ruby red.
Jeffries’ statement drew some jesting from DeSantis, who responded: “Please. Be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida to campaign. I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We will take you fishing.”
In an effort to avoid a repeat of what occurred during his first term, when Democrats regained control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Trump proposed the idea of mid-decade congressional redistricting last spring.
Although rare, this practice is not unprecedented. The goal was straightforward: to redraw congressional district maps in Republican-leaning states in order to strengthen the GOP’s fragile House majority and maintain control of the chamber during the midterms, a time when the party in power typically faces challenges and often loses seats.
When asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California played a prominent role in the effort against Donald Trump’s redistricting. In November, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily set aside the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and returned the authority to draw congressional maps to the Democratic-controlled legislature.
This change is expected to create five additional Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, aiming to counter Texas’s own redistricting efforts.
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