Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) claimed on Tuesday the DeSantis-proposed state redistricting map will be rejected in court upon passage by lawmakers.
On Wednesday, the Florida legislature will consider Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) map that would create 20 red-leaning and eight blue-leaning congressional districts. The district lines will serve the state for the next ten years, shaping national politics. But Maloney claimed the map violates the Voting Rights Act and does not shape districts by race.
“The map they’re proposing would violate the Voting Rights Act and clearly goes after African American voters. So it’s more of the same,” Maloney alleged to the Hill. “They depend on suppressing African American votes to win seats, and it’s disgraceful.”
“That map’s not going to hold up. We’re going to get that map tossed,” he added.
If this 20R-8D FL map passes and withstands court challenges, it could net Republicans four additional seats, entirely wiping out Dems' national redistricting gains thus far. https://t.co/7MU6BaPrDM
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 13, 2022
DeSantis’s map would effectively eliminate Democrat districts near Jacksonville and Orlando by splitting them in two. It would also create a more favorable district near Tampa Bay and Pinellas County, an area that is turning red.
Upon announcing the map, DeSantis refuted Maloney’s predictable accusation. DeSantis’s General Counsel, Ryan Newman, argued race should not take legal precedent over the 14th Amendment provisions of equal protection.
“Because of these adjustments, the new proposed apportionment plan eliminates the federal constitutional infirmities identified by the governor and improves on several metrics relative to the maps passed by the Legislature,” Newman wrote.
Before DeSantis took matters into his own hands, Democrats were celebrating their redistricting victories over a process the GOP was expected to dominate after the 2020 census. Redistricting expert and senior editor of the Cook Political Report David Wasserman credited DeSantis for saving Republicans from huge national losses.
“By vetoing his own legislature’s map and ramming through a brutal gerrymander, DeSantis could add four more GOP seats and eliminate three Democrats from the Sunshine State,” Wasserman wrote last week. “The move threatens to wipe out Democrats’ gains nationally, rendering the cycle a wash.”
A majority of likely voters across the country have a favorable view of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — a telling figure given the establishment media’s constant attacks and attempts to frame his policies as appealing to only a fringe minority.
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 13, 2022
Yet Democrats will not give up without a fight. Former President Barack Obama’s one-time attorney general, Eric Holder, has successfully thwarted Republican state lawmakers’ redistricting methods throughout the nation by aggressively gerrymandering House districts via the court system.
Holder’s success is a result of his “sue to blue” strategy, which he implemented after Obama was destroyed in the 2010 redistricting cycle. Developing the plan under the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) he created, Holder has been influential in causing Republican legislatures to be less aggressive. Holder has used the court system to create state maps that are “gerrymandered” — all the while accusing Republicans of gerrymandering their maps.
Holder has not been alone. Leading Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias, who played a key role in pushing for vote-by-mail across the nation during the 2020 election and has supported Democrats’ efforts to gerrymander congressional district maps, stated last week that if DeSantis’s map passes into law, it will face legal challenges.
“Florida will be sued,” he threatened.
The Democrats’ redistricting machine seems to have simply overwhelmed the GOP’s National Republican Redistricting Trust, which had been led by Karl Rove and Chris Christie, who have taken heat from Republicans for their lackluster leadership.
RINO Rove has cost the Republican Party heavily for years! Exclusive — Karl Rove Under Fire for Redistricting Failures: He’s ‘Costing Republicans All Over the Country’ #TheGreatAmericaShow https://t.co/3AxSrYbtEC via @BreitbartNews
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) February 13, 2022
“If Christie was half as focused on redistricting as he’s been on his future failing presidential campaign or the box of Twinkies he jams in his face each morning, then maybe Republicans would be in better shape today,” Donald Trump Jr. said of Christie’s performance.
“Karl Rove has been asleep at the wheel throughout the redistricting process,” a national Republican strategist told Breitbart News.
“It’s clear Karl Rove has lost a step, and it’s costing Republicans all over the country,” a second GOP strategist added.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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