Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: DeSantis goes for it on redistricting

DeSantis goes for it on redistricting

Apr 27, 2026

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THE CATCH-UP

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference, May 9, 2023. | Rebecca Blackwell/AP

RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT: Barring a late Supreme Court jolt (and perhaps even then), this week marks the final big stand for both parties in the unprecedented, Donald Trump-initiated mid-decade bout of gerrymandering.

Florida Republicans and Virginia Democrats have now gone for nearly maximalist positions, following their colleagues in Texas, California and elsewhere, capping off a frenzy of mapmaking that could yield each state’s party in power significant political gain. But their efforts are risky enough to tempt blowback from judges or the electorate.

If the redraws survive, this cycle’s political arms race — on top of preexisting gerrymanders in many states — will see voters’ power to choose their leaders effectively diminished.

Ron DeSantis goes there: The Florida governor released, via Fox News’ Preston Mizell, his proposed congressional map. And he didn’t play it safe. The new district lines would be expected to flip four Democratic-held House seats to Republicans, likely putting Reps. Darren Soto, Kathy Castor, Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz out of work. The state’s delegation would shift from 20 Republicans and eight Democrats to an even more lopsided 24-4.

Tallahassee Republicans are expected to rubber-stamp the map quickly in this week’s special legislative session. Then two big questions would loom:

1. Will it survive the courts? Florida has a ban on partisan gerrymandering, and legal challenges are assured. So DeSantis tried to frame the new map not as a power grab, like his Texas colleagues were open about, but as a necessary corrective to the state’s Hispanic population being undercounted in the 2020 census. (Researchers have indicated that this happened in multiple states, in part due to Trump’s threat to add a citizenship question.) DeSantis said the current map unconstitutionally draws districts based on race, and his “more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today.”

DeSantis’ claim is belied by the fact that he released the map on Fox with each district colored red or blue — and that he hasn’t put out a similar redraw for state legislative districts. But the state’s top court is stacked with his nominees, and it has already upheld Republicans’ previous gerrymander. Timing could also work in DeSantis’ favor. And a legal memo he sent to the legislature says he believes the Fair Districts standard doesn’t have to be followed, POLITICO’s Gary Fineout reports from Tallahassee. Which brings us to …

2. Is there a dummymander risk here? Republicans can’t just make Democratic voters disappear, so some current GOP seats will be watered down and made more competitive under the new map — which could backfire if Latino and other voters swing hard toward Dems, say, in the Miami and Tampa Bay areas. Some Republican elected officials and operatives had cautioned against going too far, encouraging DeSantis to stick to a two- or three-seat gain (though others wanted him to spring for five).

Meanwhile in Virginia: Democrats landed a big victory in narrowly persuading voters last week to vote through a ballot referendum that paved the way for a major new gerrymander. But they could yet be tripped up by the state Supreme Court, one of the country’s least predictable, which heard arguments over a GOP legal challenge this morning.

Democrats’ position faced tough questions from at least some of the court’s justices, AP’s Gary Robertson and David Lieb report from Richmond, though others didn’t tip their hand. At issue is whether Democrats’ process ran afoul of timeline constraints on when the legislative sessions that teed up the vote were allowed to take place. (In an ironic reversal from last month’s Supreme Court mail ballots case, Democrats today argued for a narrow definition of “election” to mean Election Day, while Republicans urged a more expansive interpretation.)

By the numbers: If redistricters around the country all get their way, new maps could add up to roughly 12-13 gains for Republicans and 8-10 for Democrats, with Florida putting the GOP over the edge in overall advantage.

Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop us a line at eokun@politico.com and mgray@politico.com.

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6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. WHCD SHOOTING FALLOUT: Suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter Cole Allen is due in federal court for his arraignment today, as American politics was broadly rattled “in the aftermath of a barely averted tragedy,” POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney writes.

As he went to Washington, Allen told people in his life that he was heading out of town for a meeting or due to a personal emergency, NYT’s Amy Qin and colleagues report. The real purpose of his trip, as alleged by federal authorities, shocked those who knew him.

For the Trump administration, yet another close call with an apparent would-be Trump assassin may force a rethink of security practices, in an era of heightened political violence. “The security posture” for future events, “I imagine, is going to be completely different,” FBI Director Kash Patel said today on “Fox & Friends.” The Secret Service is already taking a second look at how it will handle Trump’s upcoming public events, AP’s Will Weissert reports.

GOP anger: Though both parties this weekend condemned political violence and called for unity, Republicans also quickly switched to blaming Democrats for intense rhetoric against Trump, POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky reports. At the podium today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned anti-Trump commentary from elected officials and the media. It’s all been reminiscent of the Republican reaction to Trump’s 2024 assassination attempts and the killing of Charlie Kirk. So was first lady Melania Trump’s call this morning, echoed by the president, for ABC to yank Jimmy Kimmel off the air because he joked last week (before the dinner) that she had the glow of an “expectant widow.”

On the Hill: GOP senators announced they’ll introduce legislation to fund the White House ballroom construction, a new cause celebre on the right after the WHCD incident.

2. DEMOCRACY WATCH: “How Trump is moving to control U.S. elections, one state at a time,” by Reuters’ Ned Parker and Peter Eisler: “Reuters uncovered a broader‑than‑previously known Trump administration effort to gain federal control over elections … In Ohio, federal investigators have collected voter records in at least six counties … In Nevada, the FBI sought voter information from the secretary of state’s office … In Colorado, a senior Trump administration cybersecurity official approached a county clerk to seek access to voting machines … Rather than seek a sweeping federal takeover of elections, the administration appears to be testing constitutional limits one state and one county at a time.”

What the RNC is up to: “Confusion Is Next: A National Election Law Fight Looms Over the Midterms,” by Newsweek’s Alex Rouhandeh

3. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court today is hearing a landmark case in which Bayer is seeking to block a myriad of lawsuits over its Roundup pesticide. If the justices side with the company, tens of thousands of suits could be tossed; the Trump administration has sided with Bayer. But the case also poses a challenge for “MAHA moms” who oppose the weedkiller and have been frustrated by the administration’s approach; they protested outside the court today, CNN’s Sarah Owermohle reports.

Earlier this morning, the court took up a dispute over how expansively law enforcement can seek cellphone location data. “Based on the two-hour oral argument, it appeared the justices would conclude, at a minimum, that a search took place, meaning that a warrant was required,” NBC’s Lawrence Hurley reports.

Next up: The justices will hear arguments Wednesday in a major case over Trump’s efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians — with other immigrant groups, including Salvadorans, watching closely, AP’s Gisela Salomon previews.

New on the docket: The court announced it will take up a case “to decide whether the US Department of Labor is empowered to enforce working conditions for foreign farm laborers,” CNN’s John Fritze writes.

4. WAR REPORT: Pakistani mediators are still working to try to bring the U.S. and Iran together amid competing proposals, Reuters’ Steve Holland and colleagues report, as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travels to Russia today to meet with President Vladimir Putin. With the Strait of Hormuz still blockaded, oil prices continue to rise. Hezbollah also said today it will not “relinquish its weapons or its defenses,” a day after one of the deadliest attacks by Israel since the ceasefire was declared, NYT’s Aaron Boxerman reports.

Global fallout: While the U.S. has remained relatively unharmed economically, “the fallout from two months of war in Iran is shuttering textile mills in India and Bangladesh, grounding airplanes in Ireland, Poland and Germany, and prompting energy rationing in Vietnam, South Korea and Thailand, NYT’s Patricia Cohen and Ben Casselman report.

With friends like these: Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said the U.S. has offered little support through its economic struggles — so the country is now looking to China and Russia, per WaPo’s Rebecca Tan. And German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Trump administration is getting “humiliated” by Tehran and doesn’t have an exit strategy, per POLITICO’s Milena Wälde.

5. TRAIL MIX: The NRCC announced its “MAGA Majority” program today, adding eight new seats in the Midwest and West to its target campaign, the NY Post’s Ryan King scooped. On the list: Jim Desmond in California, Aaron Flint in Montana, Brinker Harder in Nebraska, Greg Cunningham in New Mexico, Carrie Buck and Marty O’Donnell in Nevada, Eric Conroy in Ohio and John Braun in Washington.

Pressure campaign: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is urging Democrats in Congress to make candidates reject using super PACs in the primaries or otherwise face losing access to party resources, NYT’s Reid Epstein reports.

California dreamin’: As Xavier Becerra surges in California’s governor’s race following Eric Swalwell’s exit, he’s receiving pushback from progressives who “view Becerra as a middle-of-the-road Democrat aligned with entrenched interests,” POLITICO’s Dustin Gardiner reports. Now “they’re rushing to blunt his momentum.”

6. KNOWING EMIL MICHAEL: “The man turning the Pentagon into a venture capital firm,” by WaPo’s Elizabeth Dwoskin and Ian Duncan: “Michael, the Defense Department’s undersecretary of research and engineering, and [a] cohort of private-sector leaders have pushed the Pentagon to turbocharge the commercial defense tech market. Some programs speed up projects that began under the Biden administration, while others bolster the private sector much further.”

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TALK OF THE TOWN

IN MEMORIAM: “‘An enduring mark on our state’: Dirk Kempthorne, former Idaho governor, dies at 74,” by the Idaho Statesman’s Kevin Fixler: He was a “charismatic former Idaho governor who went on to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior … [He] also served as a U.S. senator from Idaho and as mayor of Boise.”

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen backed his colleague Janeese Lewis George’s mayoral campaign, shoring up backing from the progressive wing of the council, City Cast DC’s Michael Brice-Saddler scooped.

VALLEY TALK: “Sergey Brin Moves to the Right, With a ‘MAGA Girlfriend’ by His Side,” by NYT’s Teddy Schleifer and Kate Conger: “After once backing liberal causes, the Google co-founder has praised President Trump, donated to Republicans and spent $57 million to try to block a California billionaire tax. … Asked for comment on this article, [Sergey] Brin said in a rare statement: ‘I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don’t want California to end up in the same place.’”

AMERICA’S BEST SOCCER BAR … is apparently in Arlington, according to the “Men in Blazers” media network. The pub Ireland’s Four Courts was bestowed the title with a celebration last week, WaPo’s Fritz Hahn reports.

TRANSITIONS — Andy Beck is joining Actum as senior managing director. He previously worked at Ohio River South, and is a Trump campaign and transition alum. … Eugene Kontorovich is joining Advancing American Freedom as a senior legal fellow. He previously was at the Heritage Foundation and is a George Mason law professor. … Greenberg Traurig is adding shareholders Christopher DeLacy as co-chair of the federal government law and policy practice, Daniel Sennott as co-chair of the national security group and Joel Roberson, along with Misha Lehrer and Matthew Satterley as senior directors and James Hickey as assistant director. …

… Charles Williams is joining the National Alliance to End Homelessness as director of congressional affairs. He previously worked at Bread for the World and is a Hill alum. … Good360 is adding Stephanie Martz as general counsel and chief compliance officer and Ben Barras as chief resource development officer. Martz previously worked at the National Retail Federation, and is an Obama White House and Chuck Schumer alum. Barras previously worked at World Vision. … Neill Coleman is joining Enterprise Community Partners as chief external affairs officer. He is a Trinity Church Wall Street Philanthropies and HUD alum.

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