Ruling in Florida may give lift to Democrats
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a ruling that could dramatically alter the balance of political power in Florida, a judge has adopted a map of 40 state Senate districts proposed by voter rights groups.
The new map gives Democrats, who have been politically irrelevant in the Legislature for much of the last 15 years, a chance to regain a majority in the Senate. The plan includes 21 districts that voted for President Obama’s reelection in 2012 and 19 that voted for his challenger, Republican Mitt Romney.
“I think we have a good chance to even out the state and get it to look a little bit more like it should,” said state Sen. Oscar Braynon (D-Miami), who’s leading Senate Democrats’ election efforts in 2016.
But any Democratic resurgence is likely to take many election cycles; Republicans have dominated Florida politics since the late 1990s.
Republicans hold a 26-14 advantage in the Senate and an 81-39 advantage in the House, despite being outnumbered by registered Democrats in Florida. The Republican Party of Florida regularly posts fundraising totals far surpassing the state’s Democratic Party.
Also, several of the districts in the new map that went for Obama in 2012 did so by slight margins, meaning Democrats would have to spend big and back strong candidates to get close to taking a majority in the Senate this year.
If the Senate appeals, the ruling will face review by the Florida Supreme Court. Justices have already approved a lower court ruling for the voters rights groups in a separate case regarding Florida’s 27 congressional districts.
In his decision Dec. 30, Judge George Reynolds said there was circumstantial evidence suggesting the Senate’s preferred map was intended to favor the GOP, in violation of anti-gerrymandering laws passed by voters in 2010.
The Senate’s map included 23 districts that voted for Romney in 2012, and it also had less-compact districts. The anti-gerrymandering amendments passed by voters call for districts to follow geographical boundaries and be as compact as possible.
Reynolds instead approved a map drawn by the League of Women Voters and Common Cause, the groups challenging the Senate plan.