Florida Redistricting Special Session Preview

Ryan talks with Publisher of Southeast Politics Janelle Irwin-Taylor about the upcoming special legislative session on redistricting.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Ryan Gorman Show Podcast presented by Verah and Farah
Accident Attorneys, Tampa.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Right now, let's bring in the publisher of Southeast Politics,
Janelle Erwin Taylor is with us. So you can find
all over work and a whole lot more at Southeast
politics dot com and you can follow her on x
at Janelle irwinfl. So, Janelle, let's talk about this special
session which is kicking off in Tallahassee tomorrow. This is

(00:27):
going to be the first of what could be three
What is this one focusing on?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
So, this one is expected to focus on redistricting efforts,
which have been pushed by President Donald Trump and now
Governor DeSantis is also pushing them. It's kind of an
answer to this nationwide push and pull between Democrats and
Republicans on trying to kind of game the system to

(00:56):
win seats in a very tightly contest, said Congress, there's
GOP majority right now, but it's very very narrow. So
you know, it started with Texas and California. We just
had a special election in Virginia and so far neither
party has really netted themselves any seats because it's all
kind of washed each other out, washed each other out.

(01:17):
So this is really kind of the last stand for
the GOP and trying to give themselves an advantage in
the midterms this year. And it'll be interesting to watch.
We haven't seen any maps yet, we're expecting them to
look at anything from two to five additional GOP advantage seats.
Democrats are already preparing legal challenges based on whatever comes

(01:40):
out of this legislative session, the special session rather and
you know, there's a question as to whether or not
this could backfire for Republicans. There's there was an analysis
that showed that, you know, because this is a mid
mid term election year that's expected to favor Democrats. We've
seen special elections prove that that is like going to

(02:00):
be the case, even here in Florida. That's you know,
if you are redrawing some of these districts, forcing incumbent
Republicans to run in districts they've never run in before,
you know, you might end up, even with a voter
registration advantage, having Democrats actually win in some of these seats.
So it could potentially have a counterintuitive effect. So it'll

(02:22):
be interesting to see what comes.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Out of it.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
And you know, that's not the only thing they're doing.
There's also AI build rights, medical freedom, so there's some
other topics to watch as well.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Right nothing on cost of living, you know, the biggest
issue for Floridance right now. But we'll just put that
to the side for a second. So I would be
shocked if they came out with the mat where they
tried to flip five seats, because then you're just putting
a number of congressional seats at risk if you do
something like that. If you do, you know, maybe two,
you can maneuver it in a way where it's not

(02:55):
as risky heading into the midterms, which likely will favor
Democrats even you know, to a certain extent here in Florida.
But it's not just that issue and play here. It's
also our fair district's amendment. I mean, look, they can
say whatever it is they want to say, and they will,
I'm sure have plenty of arguments for the court battles

(03:17):
that are to come. But the fact of the matter
is we all know this is a partisan effort. It
has been from the start with these redistricting efforts that
have taken place around the country. And we're not supposed
to be redrawing maps here according to an amendment passed
by voters for partisan reasons in Florida exactly.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
And that is an important thing to note because if
Republicans in the legislature, they have super majorities in both chambers,
if they pass a very aggressive map, it becomes even
harder to defend that in courts when it is inevitably challenged.
If they only do two, they might have an easier
time defending it. And already they're positioning this effort not

(03:59):
as a political gerrymander, but rather as an answer to
recent court cases that have changed the Voting Rights Acts.
So they're saying basically that there are still vestiges of
maps from all the way back in twenty twelve that
are no longer valid because of court changes, and therefore

(04:20):
these maps would draw clear, inconcise district boundaries for voters
to choose representation of their choice.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
However, maybe it'll work.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Uh yes, I mean it's not here their Offer Opinions Acts,
but you know it's it is. It would be very
difficult to defend in court if they do an aggressive
map that favors the GOP. If it's if it's less aggressive,
they might have a little bit more legal standing, so
we'll see what comes out of that.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
All right. Southeast Politics publisher Janelle Irwin Taylor again, you
can find all of her work in a whole lot
more at Southeast politics dot com. You can also follow
her on x at Chanell Irwin fl And Janelle, we'll
have to talk about the other special sessions well, plenty
of time to get to them, but yeah, it's a
year of special sessions here in Florida. Thanks so much

(05:10):
for coming on and breaking the first one down for us.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Make the Ryan Gorman Chow podcast up were set on iHeartRadio,
presented by Farah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,