A Florida judge has ruled that the state’s newly drawn congressional districts will remain in place, rejecting a challenge from voting rights groups that argued the map was designed to unfairly influence future U.S. House elections.
Leon County Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes issued the ruling Tuesday, siding with the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature over a lawsuit brought by the Common Cause and the Equal Ground Education Fund, along with a group of voters.
The case centered on Florida’s congressional redistricting plan, which redraws the boundaries for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The groups argued the map violated Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment, a voter-approved constitutional measure passed in 2010 that prohibits districts from being drawn to favor or disadvantage a political party or incumbent. They also claimed the new map weakens minority voting influence in several parts of the state, including South Florida communities with large Black and Caribbean-American populations.
Attorneys challenging the map pointed to testimony from Jason Poreda, an aide to DeSantis who helped draw the districts, who acknowledged using partisan data during the process.
But Hawkes ruled the challengers failed to show that restoring the previous congressional map would resolve the constitutional issues raised in the lawsuit.
The decision also referenced a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana that narrowed parts of the federal Voting Rights Act related to race-based district drawing. Lawyers for DeSantis and the Legislature argued that the previous version of Florida’s Congressional District 20 in South Florida could face constitutional problems under that interpretation.
The case has drawn additional attention because District 20 is now vacant following the resignation of former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in April amid a federal ethics and criminal investigation.
District 20 has historically included heavily Black communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties, home to large Haitian-American and Caribbean-American populations. Voting rights advocates argue that changes to the district could affect how those communities are represented in Congress.
“To the extent the Court has to balance Florida’s prohibition of improper partisan intent and the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection guarantees, it seems clear that the potential partisan intent in the 2026 map is the lesser of the two evils,” Hawkes wrote in the ruling.
The voting rights groups said they plan to appeal the decision.
“We will continue our fight to protect the will of Floridians who overwhelmingly voted to ban partisan gerrymandering in this state,” said Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida, in a statement.
The ruling comes as redistricting battles intensify across the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when control of the U.S. House is expected to be closely contested.
Florida’s current congressional delegation includes 20 Republicans and eight Democrats, though District 20 is currently without representation following Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation.
Any appeal would need to move quickly to affect the 2026 elections, as candidate qualifying for U.S. House races is scheduled to begin on June 8.
