Florida Politics
DeSantis Called a Special Session on Redistricting—But State Rep. Alex Andrade Says the Governor Has Only Himself to Blame
The Pensacola lawmaker lays out two ‘fatal flaws’ that put Florida in this mess—and wonders if DeSantis even has the Senate votes to get it done.
Florida lawmakers were supposed to be in Tallahassee this week. Instead, they’re waiting at home after Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed the redistricting special session back by a week—and still hasn’t released a map. That’s not the only thing missing. According to state Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, the entire effort is plagued by a series of self-inflicted wounds that DeSantis has been walking toward for years.
- “I think Governor DeSantis made a misstep,” Andrade said on a recent episode of We Don’t Color on the Dog. “And I didn’t have any conversations with the man to know exactly what motivated his decision.”
Fatal Flaw No. 1: Sitting Out the Census
Andrade’s first critique goes back to the 2020 census. When it became clear that Democratic-leaning states like California were aggressively counting immigrants and other residents to maximize their population totals—and thus their congressional seat allocations—Florida largely sat on the sidelines.
Instead of trying to figure out how to maximize Florida’s population number, DeSantis threw his hands up and said the state wasn’t going to actively participate in the census.
Andrade believes that the governor’s failure to engage cost Florida one or two additional congressional seats. “If we had actively participated in the census process as a state,” he said, “we might’ve gotten one or two additional congressional districts assigned to our state.”
- That’s not a minor miscalculation—those seats carry real political power for a decade.
Fatal Flaw No. 2: Calling the Session Without a Nonpartisan Rationale
The second error, in Andrade’s telling, is more recent—and more politically damaging. Florida’s constitution is explicit: maps must be geographically compact and contiguous, and lawmakers cannot consider partisan performance or incumbency when drawing them. DeSantis announced a special session to redraw the congressional map before the U.S. Supreme Court has even ruled on the Voting Rights Act case out of Louisiana that supposedly justifies the redraw.
Without that ruling in hand, Andrade argues, DeSantis has no solid legal foundation for the session—just a political one. And the politics may not even be working in his favor anymore. “He thought he could get credit for saving the Republicans in the midterms,” Andrade said. “But now you have these special elections that have happened recently, and we’re not sure about our midterm performance as the party.”
- That uncertainty has made Republican incumbents nervous. Many of them don’t want new maps at all—a more competitive, “purple” seat is the last thing they want heading into November.
The Senate Is the Wild Card
Even if DeSantis eventually produces a map, Andrade isn’t sure it passes. He pointed to a memorable description of the Florida Senate: a “conglomeration of Somali warlords”—independent-minded, not easily whipped into line from the top down. Without maps circulating well in advance for senators to study and weigh, Andrade doubts the chamber will have the votes. “I don’t know if the Senate will have the votes to pass whatever Governor DeSantis says he wants,” he said flatly.
Is DeSantis Still Relevant?
The special session—now set for next week—will also take up medical freedom and AI, two proposals that died during the regular legislative session. Andrade finds the whole setup odd: a governor pushing redistricting without a map, reviving failed bills, and calling lawmakers back to the Capitol again and again in the final stretch of his term.
- “It feels very much like he does not want to leave office at this point,” Andrade said. The maps—if they ever arrive—will tell us what DeSantis actually wants. The votes will tell us whether it matters.
Also on the Podcast
Ticketmaster verdict and Andrade’s early legislation. The conversation opened with last week’s federal antitrust ruling finding Live Nation/Ticketmaster a monopoly. Andrade recalled introducing legislation years ago—before the lawsuit was filed—that would have barred venues receiving taxpayer funding from signing exclusive ticketing contracts and would have allowed artists to choose their own distribution platform. The bill didn’t advance, but Andrade noted that it was then-Attorney General Ashley Moody who decided to join the multi-state lawsuit.
- He took a pointed shot at current AG James Uthmeyer, who announced Florida’s role in the outcome without mentioning Moody’s decision—what Andrade called “more performative politics from our unelected attorney general.”
The stalled state budget. Florida still has no finalized budget, and the House and Senate can’t even agree publicly on who’s negotiating. Andrade said the most realistic timeline now puts a final budget sometime in June, which would stretch his last term in office well past what he expected.
.
Support Our Journalism
If you like our reporting, consider buying us a cup of coffee – here. Your donation will help broaden our reporting. Thank you.
