Ron DeSantis Just Flexed His Veto Power – He Stops Florida From Approving Gerrymandered Districts

It looks like Florida’s governor is on a roll. In recent weeks, we’ve heard about his great strides to protect residents’ freedoms and dignity. He passed a law that protected children from one of the left’s most toxic agendas. He also banned the teaching of “critical race theory” in Florida schools. More recently, he launched a lawsuit going after the federal government’s lingering mandates.

But he’s far from done. This is a major election year that will determine the makeup of our Congress. Florida is becoming an increasingly red state. But there are still Democrats trying to redraw the map, giving themselves an advantage. Gov. DeSantis warned his state legislature not to give in to their schemes. They didn’t listen. Now, he is shutting down their gerrymandered map.

From The Epoch Times:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday vetoed the state’s newly drawn congressional map and called for a special session to redraw them in April.

The Republican governor claimed the congressional map, which was submitted by both chambers of the Legislature, violated the 14th Amendment…

DeSantis has said he won’t sign a congressional map that includes an “unconstitutional gerrymander.” Gerrymandering involves manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor a specific class or party. Ryan Newman, DeSantis’ attorney, has called Lawson’s congressional district an “illegal gerrymander.”

Gov. DeSantis vetoed a congressional map for Florida, saying it violated the 14^th Amendment. He is charging the state’s lawmakers to come up with a new map by April. According to the 14^th amendment, congressional maps cannot favor a specific class or party. However, in many states, Democrats ignore this prohibition to draw maps that favor themselves.

It seems DeSantis is concerned that the new map favors Democrats because it favors a Democrat representative. The map combines two neighborhoods in Jacksonville and Tallahassee, based on race. It appears DeSantis sees this as a violation of the 14^th Amendment because it is giving the Democrat candidate an electoral advantage.

By vetoing the map, he is forcing state lawmakers to go back to the drawing board. They have until June to have a map in place. This move might ruffle a few feathers, even within his own party. But it doesn’t seem like DeSantis is a governor afraid of rocking the boat, to get things done.