Four options

Broward hired Florida International University, which held seven public hearings and has proposed a range of options in four maps — A, B, C and D — that will be considered at a hearing Dec. 7, with final adoption set for Dec. 14. The draft maps are on the county’s website.

“There’s no perfect map,” says FIU political scientist Dario Moreno. “Everybody views redistricting with a great deal of suspicion.”

As they should. The new maps rearrange power, and despite the Fair Districts standards, political self-preservation is a matter of instinct. Most politicians resist change that puts them at risk. The fact that commissioners themselves approve the final map is an inherent conflict, just as state legislators vote on their districts.

By law, districts must allow legally protected racial minorities to elect candidates of their choice, subject to detailed statistical analysis. Districts must be of equal size and be compact and contiguous and, where possible, follow boundaries such as roads and waterways.

FIU created two majority-Black commission seats in central Broward where many Black voters live, with one seat drawn for African-Americans and one further west for Caribbean-Americans, a Hispanic majority seat in southwest Broward and a Hispanic plurality seat in south Broward. That doesn’t necessarily mean Hispanic candidates could win either seat because while Blacks overwhelmingly vote for Democrats, Hispanics are much more likely to vote Republican. FIU said 41% of Broward Hispanics voted for Donald Trump in 2020, compared to 26% in 2016.

Increasing numbers of Hispanics live in areas now represented by Commissioner Nan Rich of Weston. Elected as a commissioner in 2016 after a long career in Tallahassee, Rich is a consistent advocate for children, seniors, health care and housing. However, she is not Hispanic, and she represents areas experiencing Hispanic growth.

The lack of a Hispanic voice in county government takes on new urgency now that Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed Jared Moskowitz to the commission in place of Barbara Sharief, who resigned to run for Congress. Sharief is Black and lives in Miramar, a city with a rapidly growing Hispanic voter base. Moskowitz is white and lives in Parkland, as does county Mayor Michael Udine, giving that small city two commission members.

Some things won’t change. All nine districts will remain solidly Democratic. Every map makes it all but impossible for Republicans to elect a commissioner because the 269,000 GOP voters are scattered all over the county and cannot be geographically harnessed into one district without illegal gerrymandering. The district most competitive for the GOP is a northeast Broward seat, held by Lamar Fisher of Pompano Beach.