Florida legislature approves new congressional map that could give Republicans 4 more seats
(FLORIDA) — Florida’s state legislature passed a new congressional map on Wednesday that could allow Republicans to flip up to four seats.
It now goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had proposed it earlier this week after teasing mid-decade redistricting for months. The governor has argued that Florida’s population growth and other legal issues meant the state had to redraw its map.
The new map, analysts say, could leave just four Democratic-held districts in the state after the 2026 midterms.
But it’s likely to face legal challenges, particularly because the Florida Constitution has what are known as the Fair Districts Amendments, which prohibit drawing congressional districts “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent” and includes protections for minority voters and keeping districts contiguous.
Representatives for DeSantis have argued that the Fair Districts Amendments, approved by voters in 2010, are faulty.
But Democrats have been adamant that the process of considering the map was rushed, and that the mid-decade redistricting gambit will be found illegal by courts.
“This is a map that is designed and intended to rig outcomes, and to benefit one political party, the Republican Party, Donald Trump’s Republican Party, in direct violation of Florida’s constitution,” Democratic state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said on Wednesday ahead of the vote.
Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Powers said “Florida got it right.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis and our Legislature have delivered congressional maps that reflect the continued growth of our state that are fair, and constitutional, ensuring Florida voters are represented accurately,” Powers said in a statement on Wednesday.
Some Republican members of Florida’s U.S. House delegation had previously expressed concerns that a map redraw could backfire for the GOP, weakening incumbents while galvanizing Democratic voters.
The passage of Florida’s new map came on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and dealt a blow to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
DeSantis and his team argued that the case and ruling lent credence to Florida redrawing its map.
The new Florida map also comes roughly a week after Republicans faced a loss when Virginia voters approved allowing a new congressional map there that could let Democrats flip up to four seats. The results of that election are currently held up in court.
Rep. Thomas Massie arrives for a House vote on the funding bill to reopen the government, February 3, 2026, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a key member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, is facing bipartisan calls to resign over new revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Documents released by the Justice Department late last month show Lutnick remained in contact with Epstein as recently as 2018, years after Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crimes including soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“Look, Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what’s in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein. And this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted. You know, lightly sentenced, but was convicted for sexual crimes,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said on CNN’s “Inside Politics” on Sunday.
“So, he’s got a lot to answer for. But really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign,” Massie said.
Massie, along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, led the push for the Justice Department to release its files on Epstein and has since raised questions about the department’s transparency on the matter. Massie, Khanna and other members of Congress on Monday are visiting the Justice Department to view unredacted Epstein documents.
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, wrote on X: “It’s now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein. He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together. Lutnick must resign or be fired. And he must answer our questions.”
Lutnick, who lived next door to Epstein for over a decade, previously suggested he had distanced himself from Epstein back in the mid-2000s prior to Epstein’s conviction in 2008.
“So, I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn’t going because he’s gross,” Lutnick said on the “Pod Force One” podcast back in October.
“That’s my story. A one and absolutely done,” Lutnick said.
But one email from Epstein’s schedule for May, 1, 2011, showed plans for drinks with Lutnick.
And in December of 2012, other documents showed Lutnick and his family planned to visit Epstein’s private island. That same month, both Lutnick and Epstein invested in the same business, according to legal documents.
A spokesperson for the Department of Commerce told ABC News on Monday, “Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the next 14 years.”
The White House stood by Lutnick when asked about the latest reports detailing their relationship.
“President Trump has assembled the best and most transformative cabinet in modern history. The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.
ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O’Brien asked House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who is leading the panel’s investigation into Epstein, if he plans to add Lutnick to the panel’s list of subpoenas.
“We’re going to try to get these five [subpoenas] nailed down,” Comer said, referring to the individuals the committee has called to testify, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire businessman Les Wexner and others.
“We’ve got a lot of very important people we’re trying to bring in that to answer questions. We don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the five that we have on the books. So we’ll see what happens here, and we’ll move forward,” Comer, a Republican, said.
The chairman added, “We’re interested in talking to anyone that might have any information that would help us get justice for the survivors.”
Democrats, many of whom have begun calling on Lutnick to step down, were also asked if they’d be open to calling Lutnick’s testimony.
“It’s really important for folks to understand that in order for us to subpoena anybody, the majority has to consent. And so while we appreciate that there is bipartisan cooperation in this case, we have a whole list of individuals we would like to subpoena before the committee that they have not consented to,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat, said. “Of course, we would like to speak to Secretary Lutnick, and I personally believe that Mr. Lutnick needs to step down immediately.”
Massie, on CNN on Sunday, was asked on CNN on Sunday if Lutnick should come and testify before Congress about Epstein.
“No, he should just resign,” Massie said.
ABC News’ Isabella Murray and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump conducts a news conference in the White House briefing room about the war in Iran on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has set several deadlines for launching massive attacks on critical Iranian infrastructure if Tehran doesn’t make a peace deal includes reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz since U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran began in February.
Here is a timeline of Trump’s deadlines so far:
March 2
Two days after the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran, Trump told reporters at the White House, “We projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that.”
March 21
Trump gave a 48-hour ultimatum in a social media post calling on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, which is a trading route off the country’s southern coast that facilitates the transport of a huge amount of the world’s petroleum supply.
“the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he wrote.
March 23
Trump posted another message on social media, in all caps, announcing a five-day extension “SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.”
March 26
Trump said in a social media post that he was “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M. Eastern Time.”
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he wrote.
The president later said he was inclined to provide a 10-day extension because Iran had allowed some oil-carrying ships to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials did not comment publicly on the president’s threat. The next day, an Iranian missile struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
April 4
The president went on social media around 10 a.m., claiming “time was running out.”
“48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” he wrote.
April 5
Trump made several statements to the press and on social media on Easter Sunday that the U.S. was setting a deadline of Tuesday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET, which would be Wednesday, April 8, at 3:30 a.m. in Tehran.
He also posted profanity laden statement on the holiest day in the Christian calendar on social media, demanding that Iran open the strait or “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”
Trump told ABC News’ Rachel Scott that, if there was no deal in the next 48 hours, “We’re blowing up the whole country.”
April 6
The president held a news conference where he repeatedly made his threats against Iran’s leadership if they don’t come to an agreement with the U.S.
“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” he said.
April 7
The president made another threat on social media, indicating he could attack Iran in the night.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never be brought back again. I don’t want it to happen, but it probably will,” he wrote.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attends the Boom Belt: A Return to First Principles in Public Markets conference on April 7, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday unveiled a proposed new congressional map for the Sunshine State that his office indicates could let Republicans flip up to four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It’s a move that could help the party gain seats and counter Democrats’ recent redistricting victory in Virginia, if the map passes the Legislature and survives likely legal challenges. But some in the state are concerned about how a new map might backfire on the GOP. It is also another volley in mid-decade redistricting around the country, as another state starts the process usually only done once a decade in the wake of Texas, California and other states doing so.
The new map, provided to ABC News by the governor’s office, appears to aim to allow Republicans to flip up to four seats in the U.S. House, leaving just four Democratic-held districts in the state.
The office did not provide any details on how it conducted its analysis, and DeSantis said the redraw is about representation. “Florida got shortchanged in the 2020 Census, and we’ve been fighting for fair representation ever since. … Our new map for 2026 makes good on my promise to conduct mid-decade redistricting, and it more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today,” DeSantis told Fox News Digital, which was first to report on the new map being unveiled.
Dave Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst for The Cook Political Report, wrote on Monday that the map appears to target Democratic Reps. Darren Soto, Kathy Castor, Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Soto wrote on X, “Gerrymander or Dummymander? This map is an absolutely unlawful violation of the Florida Constitution. The Legislature should reject it. The courts should strike it down. That being said, there are 12+ seats that Democrats could still win under this map in this cycle.”
The speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Daniel Perez, confirmed in a memo on Monday that the state House had received the new map and would begin considering it on Tuesday.
An aggressive approach
DeSantis has said Florida’s potential redistricting has nothing to do with Virginia’s efforts to redraw its congressional map, which passed last week and could net Democrats four congressional seats if it survives court challenges.
Some within the Republican Party have said Florida should aggressively redraw its map to counter Virginia, although others have hedged.
President Donald Trump, for instance, was asked by Fox News in an interview on Sunday about his reaction to Virginia’s redistricting and if Florida should ‘make a go at it.’ (Florida is Trump’s home state.) “I do, but that Virginia case is terrible,” Trump responded.
A Republican strategist in Florida told ABC News, “I think the people who are interested in taking the most aggressive, fighteresque approach … feel a bit emboldened” by what happened in Virginia. “The people taking a more strategic, long-term take on this whole process — I don’t think what happened in Virginia changes their opinion at all.”
Democrats ready to counter
DeSantis had called a special session that’s currently set to begin Tuesday that will include considering mid-decade redistricting, although he had previously delayed the initial date of the session by a week and expanded it to add other issues.
The Legislature also has a complex relationship with the governor, and legislators have been relatively tight-lipped over how it will vote.
The governor has spoken often about mid-decade redistricting in Florida in recent months, but framed his thoughts in terms of Florida needing to redraw its maps due to population reasons — not for political gain.
But Democrats, flush off of a victory in Virginia, say that they’re ready to counter GOP moves. The Virginia election’s certification is currently being litigated in courts.
Could it backfire?
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, during a press conference last Wednesday, called potential redistricting in Florida a “DeSantis dummymander” that would backfire on the GOP by weakening seats they currently hold.
“Our message to Florida Republicans is, ‘F around and find out’,” Jeffries said. “If they go down the road of a ‘DeSantis Dummymander’, the Florida Republicans are going to find themselves in the same situation as Texas Republicans who are on the run right now.”
DeSantis, responding to Jeffries on Wednesday without bringing up redistricting, taunted, “There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Hakeem Jeffries everywhere around this state … please, be my guest to come down in Florida. We would love to have you.”
Some Republicans, however, have openly expressed concerns that any new map in Florida would endanger GOP-held districts because it would weaken those districts politically as it tries to flip other ones, due to how voters could be moved around or respond to redistricting. It’s a key concern in Florida for the GOP, where Hispanic voters — a major bloc — who had moved towards the GOP in 2024’s elections now appear to be moving towards Democrats.
“Don’t do it. I’ve said it from the beginning. I’ve been around enough reapportionments to know it’s a slippery slope,” Florida Rep. Daniel Webster told Punchbowl News last week.
And Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar told NBC News last week, “Look, I may be at a disadvantage, because my lines in district number 27 in the state of Florida may be moved, but there’s nothing I can do about it. And I always look at the bright side. This is American democracy. This is the American electoral system.”
The law and Florida’s Constitution
There are legal considerations at play as well that were not the case in other states such as Texas, California and Missouri that redistricted — as Florida’s state Constitution also has strict restrictions on redrawing constitutional maps for political gain, thanks to provisions known as the Fair Districts Amendments that voters approved in 2010.
The state’s Constitution says that “In establishing congressional district boundaries … No apportionment plan or individual district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.”
“It imposes an explicit prohibition on intentionally redrawing districts to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent,” Jonathan Marshfield, a state constitutional law expert at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, told ABC News.
“And so this is significant in Florida, because the United States Supreme Court hasheld … that these were sort of partisan gerrymandering claims are not justiciable in federal court; [there’s] essentially no recourse in the same way in federal court as there is in a state court. One of the challenges, I can imagine, is that these new congressional maps are going to be challenged as not complying with the Fair District Amendment of 2010.”
Marshfield added that “the law is structured such that challenges will, in fact, focus on their actual intent in drawing the lines where they draw them. And so that is a legally relevant inquiry that will be investigated in the course of the litigation.
DeSantis did not address the amendments in his comments to Fox News. But his general counsel, David Axelman, in a letter sent to the Florida Legislature along with the proposed map, argued that the amendments themselves may be unconstitutional.
“Florida’s representation in the U.S. House has also been distorted by considerations of race. Passed in 2010, the Fair Districts Amendments (FDA) to the Florida Constitution require the Legislature to account for race when drawing congressional districts … This requires the use of race in redistricting-something that the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled is unconstitutional.”
A strategist working with Florida House Democrats told ABC News that Democrats in the Legislature don’t have procedural mechanisms or leeway to slow down the process of passing a map, unlike in Texas in 2025 where Democrats were able to depart the state and break “quorum” in order to hold up legislation. But the strategist said that won’t matter, and that it doesn’t matter if the new map benefits Republicans or not.
A strategist working with Florida House Democrats told ABC News that Democrats in the Legislature don’t have the same procedural mechanism or leeway to slow down the process of passing a map, unlike in Texas in 2025 where Democrats were able to depart the state and break “quorum” in order to hold up legislation. But the strategist said that won’t matter, and that it doesn’t matter if the new map benefits Republicans or not.
“Regardless of if it backfires or not, it’s still illegal,” the strategist argued.
But Marshfield said that those drawing the map will likely have taken the amendment into account: “I’m sure in light of that, that the people drawing the lines, I would assume — I think the courts assume — that they have taken care to comply with the law, so that they are taking care to draw the lines in ways that comply with that amendment.”
