Miami Herald • 22nd August 2023

Is Voting Rights Act on trial in Florida? Redistricting case could have broad impact

The state of Florida will square off with voting-rights plaintiffs in Tallahassee this week in a high-stakes redistricting battle that could have national implications as both sides argue over the constitutionality of protections for Black voters. The one-day hearing on Thursday follows the state’s stark admission: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ congressional map violated the state’s safeguards against diminishing the electoral influence of racial minorities. DeSantis’ lawyers will argue those protections infringe upon the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and should be thrown out.

Miami Herald • 6th April 2022

Winsor worked on redistricting as a House lawyer. He’s not recusing himself as judge

The federal judge handling Florida’s congressional redistricting case said Wednesday that he will not step aside and recuse himself, even though he represented the state House of Representatives in the last redistricting cycle and worked to oppose the state’s anti-gerrymandering provisions.

Miami Herald • 4th March 2022

DeSantis tweets that he’ll veto proposed congressional map, GOP lawmakers defy him

As the Florida House was debating its congrssional redistricting plan, Gov. Ron DeSanti sent a tweet saying the bill was "DOA," dead on arrival. The House and Senate passed it anyway, setting up a high stakes standoff that could have implications on the future of Congress.

Miami Herald • 3rd March 2022

Legislature approves its own redistricting maps as DeSantis seeks court ruling

Legislators finished work on their legislative redistricting maps on Thursday as a unanimous Senate approved a Florida House map and gave final approval to a Senate map. The new configurations position Republicans to be able to remain in control of the Legislature for the next decade.

Miami Herald • 3rd March 2022

Court approves redistricting maps for Legislature, but congressional plan is stalled

Florida’s voters will have a new set of political boundaries to follow when they elect their state legislators in November, after the state’s high court finalized legislative maps on Thursday as part of the nation’s once-a-decade redistricting cycle. The maps are expected to seal in place a Republican majority in the state Legislature for the next decade.

Miami Herald • 25th February 2022

House releases redistricting map to appease DeSantis, but signals it’s worried

Under pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis to dismantle a North Florida congressional district designed to elect a Black representative to Congress, the Florida House passed a map that does much of what the governor wants but also added a backup plan, a second map.

Miami Herald • 15th February 2022

Voting advocates call truce on legislative maps in Florida’s redistricting fight

After years of litigation and bitter opposition from the Republican-led Legislature, the coalition of voter advocacy groups that brought the state its redistricting standards have called a truce. FairDistricts Now, and its consortium of voting advocates, will not oppose the House and Senate redistricting maps that were passed by the Florida Legislature two weeks ago, setting the stage for the plans to serve as the political boundaries for the 120-member House and 40-member Senate for the next decade.

Miami Herald • 13th January 2022

Florida Senate advances redistricting maps despite warning they ‘dilute Latino power’

Despite harsh criticism from left-leaning voting advocates that legislators are diluting minority voting strength, the Florida Senate’s redistricting committee on Thursday approved its state Senate and congressional maps with near-unanimous votes and virtually no debate.

Miami Herald • 10th January 2022

Senate readies new maps with plan that pits some Democrats against each other

As many as four South Florida Democrats and no Republicans would be drawn into districts with another state senator under a redistricting map a key Florida Senate committee is scheduled to approve on Thursday. On the first day of the legislative session, Senate Reapportionment Committee Chair Ray Rodrigues quietly selected two redistricting maps — one for Congress and the other for the state Senate — from dozens of submitted maps, and they will serve as the baseline for any amendments going for

Miami Herald • 6th January 2022

FPL makes unusual public attack on Miami Herald after solar power coverage

Florida Power & Light has launched an unusual public attack on the Miami Herald and its senior Tallahassee reporter over coverage of the utility company’s lobbying on solar power policy — criticism the paper’s top editor called “unfair.”

Miami Herald • 17th November 2021

Democratic senator asks staff to draw new Senate map that doesn’t cross Tampa Bay

Florida Democrats offered the first sign of push back in the proposed redistricting maps prepared by the Florida Senate staff on Wednesday by asking them to end a 30-year-old tradition of linking Black neighborhoods by crossing Tampa Bay. Sen. Randolph Bracy, an Orlando Democrat, asked the staff of the Republican-dominated Senate Reapportionment Committee whether the growth in population makes it now possible to create a minority-majority district without linking predominantly Black communities

Miami Herald • 20th September 2021

South Florida’s loss could be Central Florida’s gain as redistricting process begins

Florida legislators will formally launch their reapportionment efforts armed with the Census data that gives Florida one new congressional district and promises to upset legislative and congressional boundaries from Miami to St. Petersburg. The biggest changes will be felt in Central Florida, but redistricting is likely to exacerbate already festering political, geographic, racial and ethnic divides.

Miami Herald • 20th September 2021

Senate redistricting chair vows to redeem process as he plans to limit public’s input

In an effort to “take steps against the shadow process” that marred legislative redistricting 10 years ago, Senate Reapportionment Committee Chair Ray Rodrigues announced new rules that put limits on the input the Senate gets from average citizens, political consultants and lobbyists.

Miami Herald • 18th September 2021

Legislators remain silent about repairing Florida’s tarnished redistricting process

Florida legislators faced new obstacles this redistricting cycle: a compressed schedule because of a delay in the census process and restoring public trust after a court’s conclusion that the last process was secretly and illegally “hijacked” by Republican political operatives 10 years ago. But despite the hurdles, Florida GOP leaders held no public hearings, gave no media interviews and wouldn't respond to requests from voters’ groups that they conduct a transparent process.

miamiherald • 27th January 2018

How sleuths decoded redistricting conspiracy

After a landmark court ruling that threw out Florida's congressional redistricting map, we peeled back the evidence in an exclusive report to show how the plaintiffs figured out that Republican operatives had fixed the maps to favor their candidates.

Miami Herald • 27th November 2015

Both sides make conspiracy accusations in Florida’s redistricting fight

The knock-down fight over the political future of the Florida Senate entered its third round this week as lawyers for the coalition of voting groups accused Republican lawmakers of conspiring again to protect incumbents, while the Legislature’s lawyers accused opponents of “operating in the shadows” to help Democrats.

Miami Herald • 6th October 2015

Video: An explanation of the first feuds in the Senate redistricting battle of 2015.

Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas outlines the battle lines shaping up over the Florida Senate redistricting debate as legislators met in a three-week special session in 2015.

miamiherald • 8th September 2014

Courtroom clash pits Democrats, Republicans in epic redistricting battle

For the first time in Florida history, a law prevented legislators from drawing redistricting maps to benefit incumbents or political parties. The challenge proved impossible for politicians to overcome, so the maps landed in the courts in what was to become an epic battle. We explained it for readers here.

Miami Herald • 11th August 2014

Florida legislators approve new redistricting map but new challenge is expected

Florida legislators completed their fix of a congressional redistricting map in a three-day special session in 2014, and sent the plan to Gov. Rick Scott for approval as they scrambled to meet a deadline set by a state court.

Bradenton Herald • 6th June 2014

Embattled House speaker defends Florida redistricting

In an unprecedented move, House Speaker Will Weatherford took the stand in the trial over Florida’s congressional districts and defended against accusations that legislators allowed legislative staff to work with political consultants, enabled a shadow process to influence the outcome and destroyed records.