Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has officially rammed through a partisan, illegal, gerrymandered map, cutting 4 Democratic seats in the process.
The Florida state legislature, dominated by a Republican supermajority, immediately acted on Trump’s wishes to gerrymander the state and deliver him more GOP seats, as he becomes more and more unpopular. The map was passed in just three days during a swift special session. “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis wrote immediately after signing the gerrymander into law.
This new map, which is illegal, directly violates the Florida constitution. In 2010, voters passed Amendment 6, which plainly states that “Congressional districts may not be drawn to favor or disfavor a political party.” That is certainly what DeSantis did, who repeatedly went on Fox News to brag about his political motivations surrounding the new gerrymandered map. Members of DeSantis’ own staff have admitted to using partisan data to assist in the creation of this new map.
On this episode of The Siren Podcast, Jo sits down with Nikki Fried, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, Former Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, and Florida’s last statewide elected Democrat. Fried tells us that how DeSantis has appointed six out of seven members of the Florida Supreme Court, making an independent decision regarding the map more difficult.
But Florida Democrats aren’t just sitting on their hands and giving up. As Fried tells us, “Now we’ve got lawsuits going on. We’ve got three that have been filed as of last week. We have our first hearing for an injunction on Friday.”
This is an information episode you won’t want to miss. All this and more, right here on The Siren Network.
