JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s Congressional maps will likely remain unchanged for the 2024 election.
That means we’ll likely not see the return of the old Congressional District 5, which allowed Black voters from Tallahassee to Jacksonville’s urban core to elect a candidate of their choice.
On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court declined to expedite the case, and with the candidate qualifying just two months away, the chances of getting a hearing and a ruling from the court in that timeframe are slim to none.
READ: Florida Supreme Court refuses to speed up challenge to North Florida redistricting plan
Since Governor Ron DeSantis pushed his favored Congressional map in 2022, which dismantled the old Congressional District 5 and divided it up among several Republican-leaning districts, a coalition of voting rights groups has been fighting in the courts to restore the former minority access district.
April England-Albright with Black Voters Matter, the lead plaintiff in the case, argued under the current map, that Black voters in Jacksonville have had their voice in government diminished.
“There are voters who don’t even live in that community [who] are now going to be making decisions that are not going to be decided by people who actually live there,” said England-Albright.
After winning an initial battle in district court, which ordered a plaintiff-proposed map to be installed to replace the Governor’s preferred map, an appellate court reversed the decision back in December and put the Governor’s map back in play.
The Florida Supreme Court was seen as the last hope for restoring the old CD 5 in time for the 2024 election, but with Monday’s ruling, England-Albright argued voters are likely stuck with the current maps until 2026.
“We will not be able to get those maps redrawn unfortunately and the voters will continue to be silenced in Duval County,” said England-Albright.
UNF political science professor Dr. Michael Binder explained the impacts of the ruling go far beyond Florida.
The map proposed by voting rights groups would have likely flipped at least one of Florida’s 20 Republican-held Congressional seats.
READ: State appeals ruling, which found Florida’s congressional map unconstitutional
“There are so few competitive districts across the country that anytime you can flip a district from a safe D to safe R or vice versa, it’s meaningful and has impacts nationally for sure,” said Binder.
State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville), who represents the Bold City’s urban core in the Florida Legislature, argued Democrats do still have opportunities to make some gains this year, whether it’s on the local, state, or national level.
“If we want to fund our futures, if we want folks to really start investing in our communities, we need to get out and elect those candidates who care about our community,” said Nixon.
There are also challenges to Florida’s Congressional maps filed in federal court, but Nixon, Binder, and England-Albright all said they have no expectation those cases will be resolved in time for the November election.
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