Several pro-Israel, Democratic House members, including multiple Jews, could face touch races to be reelected to Congress if proposed redistricting maps, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, unveiled on Monday come to pass.
“The proposed map is a blatant attempt to push out pro-Israel, Democratic champions in Congress,” Brian Romick, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, told JNS.
“It’s bad for our country. It’s bad for those who care about Israel, and it’s a violation of Florida’s redistricting constitutional amendment,” Romick said. “We urge lawmakers to reject this shameless partisan stunt.”
The Florida legislature must approve the maps for them to take effect. Some analysts warn that the governor’s plan could backfire based on a projected Democratic wave this year. Some also predict that Democrats could flip Republican-held seats in south Florida, where millions of registered Democrats would be combined in some Republican-held districts.
DeSantis aims to eliminate four of Florida’s eight Democratic-friendly congressional districts within the Sunshine State’s 28-member congressional delegation. A special session of the legislature, where Republicans holding a supermajority, is considering the measure.
The Broward and Palm Beach County districts, represented by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), are projected to favor Republicans come election time if the new maps are implemented. Both of the congresswomen are pro-Israel Jews.
“DeSantis drew up illegal, partisan maps in a backroom and made sure Fox News got them before lawmakers did,” Wasserman Schultz told JNS.
“This clear effort to steal more seats for Republicans shows his total contempt for Florida voters, who voted two-to-one in favor of a ban on partisan gerrymandering in our Constitution,” Wasserman Schultz said.
“This nakedly partisan scheme breaks state law,” she told JNS. “While Republicans focus on cherry-picking their voters, I’ll keep fighting for better jobs and schools and take on the healthcare and housing high-cost crisis that Republicans continue to ignore.”
DeSantis has said that the maps are a response to Florida’s population growth and to court rulings about how to consider racial demographics when drawing electoral maps.
Frankel told the Miami Herald that she wants to look at the proposed map before commenting.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), another Jewish, pro-Israel Democrat, would see much of his current district drawn into the area that Wasserman Schultz now represents. That could potentially force a primary faceoff between the two. (JNS sought comment from Moskowitz.)
The Orlando-area district held by Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), who is pro-Israel, would favor Republicans under DeSantis’s proposal, as would the Tampa-area district of Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has generally supported Israel.
Richard Stark, president of the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, told JNS that he is “personally outraged” that the governor is redistricting a state that already favors Republicans “overwhelmingly.”
“All of the congressional seats that are affected are pro-Israel,” Stark told JNS.
JNS sought comment from Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), the lone Jewish House Republican in the state.
“South Florida is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the country, which is why most of South Florida is represented by Democrats, because historically, and certainly under Trump, it’s only Democrats who share democratic and Jewish values,” Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told JNS.
Soifer criticized DeSantis for failing to bring the maps up for a referendum, as Democrats did when they sought to redistrict in Virginia and California.
“They appear to have forgotten that you can’t gerrymander away a deeply unpopular president with an approval rating below 40%,” Soifer told JNS. “No matter the maps, voters’ views and voices cannot be erased, which is why we’re confident this gerrymandering effort may backfire on the GOP and benefit Democrats in November.”
