‘Screaming’ Democrats Shut Down Florida House over Redistricting Map Vote

‘Screaming’ Florida Democrat lawmakers on Tuesday shut down the state House in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) redistricting map.

The radical and rowdy lawmakers stood in the middle of the House floor and sang, “We shall overcome.” They also chanted slogans like “we will occupy this floor” and “black votes are under attack” to prevent the maps from passing the House. The map passed the Senate on Wednesday. If the map passes the House on Thursday, DeSantis will sign it into law.

The Democrats also claimed the map “is the same as Russia Invading Ukraine,” according to state Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R), who was on the floor. “Screaming Democrats have shut down the Florida House of Representatives,” he said.

Democrats reportedly oppose the maps because the districts are not shaped by race. The map proposes 20 red-leaning and eight blue-leaning congressional districts. The district lines will serve the state for the next ten years, shaping national politics.

State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (D) stated she was screaming because she was very unhappy about the map’s lines. “Republicans waved the rules to skip debate and pass all bills including the petty attack on Disney & unconstitutional Congressional maps that erase black access seats,” she said.

One for the Democrats just said, “These maps passing is the same as Russia Invading Ukraine”

— Rep. Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) April 21, 2022

On Tuesday, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) claimed the maps should be shaped by race, according to the Voting Rights Act.

“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.”

Now Rep @AnnaForFlorida leads as @CarlosGSmith appears to livestream pic.twitter.com/6UDPEJurSL

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) April 21, 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’s General Counsel, Ryan Newman, opposed the Democrats’ predictable accusation.

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 said.

Rep. ⁦@micheleforfl⁩ talking to press from House floor pic.twitter.com/Xoc4pm7ez6

— Gary Fineout (@fineout) April 21, 2022

If the map is passed through the House and into law, surviving court challenges, Republicans will break even in the redistricting battle that was to be a huge boon to the GOP. 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. “The move threatens to wipe out Democrats’ gains nationally, rendering the cycle a wash.”

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.