- This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St.

Petersburg, Sarasota.

[music] - Coming up, Florida's congressional map has been redrawn for the second time this decade.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed the legislation this week, a move that could shift four Democratic seats to Republican control.

The special session lasted just days.

The legal challenges began almost immediately, and the questions remain about constitutional guardrails and who draws the line.

We hear from leaders on opposite sides of the political aisle.

What does mid-decade redistricting look like for voters and their representation?

Also, the race for St.

Petersburg mayor takes shape, and a proposed hyperscale data center in rural Polk County is raising concerns about energy demands, economic promises and whether public input makes a difference in the decision making process.

We hear from trusted voices in our community.

Next on Florida This Week.

[music] Welcome back to Florida.

This week, I'm your moderator, Lissette Campos.

Joining us this week is Gary White.

He covers Polk County and its congressional delegation for the Lakeland Ledger.

Nicholas Warren is a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida.

It's an organization at the center of every major redistricting legal battle in the state since voters approved the Fair Districts Amendment in 2010.

And we also have Colleen Wright, St.

Petersburg reporter for the Tampa Bay Times.

She's been covering how Tampa Bay's Democratic representation could change to Republican soon.

We'll hear more from them shortly.

But first, we go one-on-one with a member of Congress whose constituency is fundamentally changing under a redrawn district.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed that new congressional map into law on Monday.

That same day, a lawsuit was filed challenging the map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

It shifts Florida's congressional delegation from 20 Republicans and eight Democrats to a potential 24 to 4 advantage for the GOP.

Four Democratic-held seats are being impacted.

Representatives Darren Soto of Orlando, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Jared Moskowitz of South Florida and Kathy Castor of Tampa, who joins us now.

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Hi.

Thank you so much for having me.

- This new map was signed into law just a few days ago.

And for viewers who may not be following this as closely as you have, of course.

Can you walk us through what changed for Tampa Bay, specifically your district, and why you believe it matters for everyday constituents?

- Yes.

Unfortunately, redistricting now has become a very partisan exercise, and Florida is really the last state to undergo what the president has asked for, for a Republican-led states to draw more red seats.

This is out of the ordinary.

You're supposed to go into redistricting every ten years after a census and go into a redraw with public input.

But Ron DeSantis.. Governor DeSantis crafted his own maps without public input, without the input of the Legislature.

Drop the maps.

Announced them on Fox News before providing them to the legislature last week.

They took up the maps and passed them, Um, immediately.

Uh, unfortunately, here in Tampa Bay, they are now breaking apart communities.

Remember, our state constitution since 2010 said, first, you're not allowed to draw a congressional district for a partisan purpose or to benefit a political party or incumbent.

And districts have to be compact and contiguous.

And the new maps violate all of those precepts on compactness.

They've now divided up the city of Tampa into three different districts, and it's it's rather outrageous in St.

Petersburg, from Redington Shores down to St.

Pete Beach, all of South St.

Pete is now contained in a district with Wauchula and Arcadia, DeSoto and Hardee counties.

And what they're trying to do is avoid accountability for their very unpopular policies that are raising the cost of living, housing, health care, you name it.

People are angry and they know that they're facing a wave election.

Uh, and this is a way to avoid accountability for for that affordability squeeze.

- You've said people are angry.

I just have to ask, are you angry?

Governor DeSantis has argued that this new map better reflects Florida's current population and the political makeup, citing dramatic population growth.

Um, how do you see this?

- I am angry on behalf of my, the folks I represent.

Uh, you're taking away their voice...and it.

But I have to say, no matter how they draw the lines on the map, I'm going to draw the line here for the bottom line of people across the Tampa Bay area.

I am going to represent families.

I'm kind of.

I'm known as Tampa Bay's congresswoman.

Uh, so now the new folks I'll have the privilege of fighting for and Brandon and Wimauma and Plant City and Valrico, uh, still with Tampa, uh, with South Tampa.

But it, it really is a disservice.

And that was a complete pretense that because of population growth, they had to redraw the, the boundaries.

They didn't do, they didn't do any real analysis.

There's nothing in the record that bases these maps on population shifts.

It was purely a partisan exercise.

So now it will be up to the courts, but ultimately up to Floridians at the ballot box.

- And you've mentioned the courts.

Let's talk about that.

A lawsuit was filed the very same day that the governor signed this.

Um, what's the realistic legal path forward in terms of how long it could take?

And again, specific to the Fair Districts Amendment of 2010?

- Yes.

So these are court challenges filed in the circuit in Tallahassee, uh, asking for a preliminary injunction to, to stop the maps from going into effect.

Qualifying for congressional office is the second week in June, so we really need action quickly by the courts.

Um, so the question will be ultimately when it makes it to the Florida Supreme Court on appeal, are the justices merely puppets of the governor, or can they read the plain language of our state constitution that was voted in, in a widely bipartisan, very popular basis in 2010 that says, no partisan gerrymandering in our state districts have to be compact and contiguous because that is respecting communities of interest, making sure they are cohesive and have a voice.

- You know, a lot of observers have said that both parties have engaged in redistricting to their advantage.

We have the example of California Democrats passed proposition 50 to redraw their own maps.

And so how do you respond to voters who see this as both parties, um, playing games of sorts with the maps.

- I know it's, it's too chaotic.

It's a waste of time and money.

Uh, there is a difference though, from Florida, from the rest of those states that Florida has specific standards in its state constitution.

And when, uh, President Trump embarked on this partisan exercise, Texas acted.

The difference here, you know, in California and Virginia, where Democratic states went ahead and redistricted, they went to their voters in advance and, and said, uh, give us permission to do this.

And the voters did that.

But ultimately, we need major reform, electoral reform out of Washington, D.C., that prevents these kind of out of sync partisan gerrymandering exercises.

- You have referred to the Fair Districts Act, and several occasions approved in 2010.

It's been on the books for 16 years.

I just want our viewers to also know that you've talked about it being supported overwhelmingly by voters.

And the research that we did, it was approved by voters by more than 62% of the vote, correct?

- That's correct.

- There's certainly so much to talk about, and we really appreciate you taking time to speak to us on Florida This Week.

Again, thank you to Congresswoman Kathy Castor.

- Thank you so much.

- We want to let you know, in regards to redistricting, that we did reach out to several local Republicans in our congressional delegation.

Unfortunately, they could not join us due to scheduling conflicts.

They do have an open invitation to speak with us on Florida This Week on the CBS news program, The Takeout.

The chairman of Florida's Republican Party, Evan Power, rejects claims of gerrymandering.

Power said redrawing congressional districts corrects the state's representation in Washington after the 2020 census.

That count held under President Trump's first administration.

- It was the analysis that was done after the fact by the Biden administration.

They admit they used some analytics that determined made some changes to those numbers.

And at the end of the day, we got less representation.

And California and Illinois got a little bit more.

I think people don't understand how different Florida is from eight years ago or six years ago.

We have a 1.5 million Republican voter advantage here in Florida.

And to put that into context, in 2018, Democrats had a 400,000 voter advantage.

- Castor's district is just one of several in our area that look very different under the new map.

Let's take a closer look in District 12.

Republican Gus Bilirakis moves south into Hillsborough after the district drops its northern counties in District 13, Anna Paulina Luna seat shrinks in southern Pinellas and it expands into Pasco County.

And in District 14, notably, Tampa is carved into three separate congressional districts further south.

District 16 expands to take parts of St.

Petersburg, Polk and Sarasota counties, and longtime incumbent Vern Buchanan is not seeking reelection there.

He's setting up a very competitive open seat race.

Sidney Gruters, wife of Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters, has already filed for that seat in District 17.

Republican Greg Steube keeps his Sarasota area seat with modest boundary changes.

Candidate qualifying opens on June 8th.

And now let's bring in our panel to discuss what they heard and what it means for Florida voters.

I'd like to start with you, Nicholas.

Again, thank you to each of you for coming in.

Your specialty is voter rights.

You've led the ACLU efforts, Florida's redistricting work since lawmakers approved the amendment in 2010, the Florida redistricting amendment.

What were the driving forces in 2022?

It was only four years ago.

Um, then and what are the driving forces shaping the conversation now?

- Sure.

So it was only four years ago.

And, and I should start by saying that it's not normal for a state to redistrict in the middle of the decade in between censuses.

The first time around, after the census, the districts have to change to adjust for shifting populations and make sure that the one person, one vote principle is upheld.

The legislature started a process that was initially fairly transparent and in good faith, trying to take public input and craft a map that made sense.

Um, governor DeSantis intervened, then injected his own map into the process to engineer a partisan advantage for the Republican Party.

Have to remember that was during his presidential primary campaign.

And folks talked about that he was sacrificing the people of Florida or the will of the voters to choose the representatives for his political ambitions.

And that's the map that we have now.

So already not a great start.

But on top of that, as, as we've heard in, in the face of President Trump calling for Republican states to, to squeeze even more seats out of already gerrymandered maps.

That's exactly what, what drove the process this time with this new map.

- You've talked about it a little bit, but I'd like to give you a chance to explain it a little more.

The ACLU of Florida is a nonpartisan organization.

Um, you do not represent Republicans versus Democrats.

What is the goal of the work that you are doing?

- That's exactly right.

I mean, our, our in all of our voting rights work, redistricting or anything else, our North Star is that any eligible citizen who wants to vote can register and do so cast their ballot that ballot will be counted and that it has a meaningful difference in the outcome of an election.

And it's that last part where gerrymandering stops that, right, where politicians are picking their voters rather than the other way around.

And so the ACLU in all of our work is, is dedicated to making sure that the people have a meaningful voice in their democracy.

- When you look at the maps specific to our area of Tampa Bay and west central Florida, what are the districts or the area that concern the ACLU of Florida the most?

- I think, I mean, we've already discussed or already heard Tampa being split three ways being drawn.

There's a district that combines parts of downtown Tampa going all the way up to Crystal River and Homosassa on, on the St.

Pete side of the bay, you have St.

Pete split in two.

Half of it crosses the Skyway down to Manatee County and all the way out to the orange groves.

Hours and hours inland.

And that harms both sides of that district.

Right.

You've got the rural communities and urban St.

Pete and St.

Pete Beach that don't have much in common, and they're forced to have the same congressperson.

- We've heard earlier from in the show from Congresswoman Kathy Castor.

You yourself has have referred to the Florida districts, Florida Fair Districts amendment on several occasions.

How does that help the cause of the lawsuits that are being presented now against this new map?

And is it a moot point with the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in that Calais v. Louisiana case?

- So so first, first of all, the U.S.

Supreme Court did issue a major voting rights decision in Louisiana v Calais that was on the Federal Voting Rights Act.

And the Supreme Court, essentially, to be honest, eviscerated.

Uh, the Voting Rights Act by rewriting the tests for proving minority vote dilution.

Um, luckily, in Florida, as we've heard, the voters in 2010 overwhelmingly passed the Fair Districts amendments to ban partisan gerrymandering mandate that districts be compact and make sense for communities, and that those amendments are not affected by the US Supreme Court's decision on the Voting Rights Act.

So the lawsuits that have been filed against the new map are seeking to enforce the will of the voters, to restore fairness and make sure we have a map that works for our communities in Florida.

- At this point, I'd love to drill down just a little bit more into Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Polk County.

Colleen, I'd like to start with you.

Tell us about the changes in the map that are specific to the St.

Petersburg area and Pinellas County, and what strikes you?

What stands out to you the most?

- Absolutely.

So as Nick was saying, St.

Pete is kind of split in half along 22nd Avenue North and then that district boundary goes northwest and includes Redington Shores all the way down over the skyway into Hardee and DeSoto counties.

And I actually interviewed Congresswoman Kathy Castor a few days ago.

And, you know, you spoke to it.

It's just harder to you know, she was making the case that it's harder to advocate for, you know, the services that folks need.

You know, the beaches are still recovering from hurricane.

Hurricane Helene and Milton from 2024.

That's still an ongoing issue.

There's thousands of homes in St.

Pete that were flooded.

So whether you're on the beaches or in St.

Pete, you know, they're still dealing with that.

That's not really so much the case in, you know, the orange groves, Florida groves, you know, in more rural parts.

And it's I think there's going to be a huge learning curve.

I think what it also does is I've spoken to a few leaders in St.

Petersburg who are concerned about education, that folks might not know who's on the ballot or who's running.

And it causes confusion.

It can turn people off.

And I think that's what a lot of leaders, a lot of also Democratic leaders, St.

Petersburg's a very democratic city, are kind of concerned about that.

You know, folks will just kind of like, you know, tune out and turn off.

- So when you're out and about and you're doing your interviews with voters after this redistricting, whether they're Republican, Democrat, or no party affiliation, what is the mood?

What is the general consensus of people that you're talking to?

- Yeah, I think, you know, I think one of the questions I get a lot is like, when do these maps go into effect?

And it's right now, I know that there's lawsuits right now, but they stand and they're in place for the elections that are coming up this year.

So there's just not a lot of time.

I think there's a lot of confusion.

People don't really understand what's going on.

And one thing I do want to tease now that I've got you is, you know, my colleague Nina Mosk and I are looking at, um, black voters, how it seems like, especially in Tampa Bay, the district lines are kind of drawn where there are a lot of black populations.

Black voters tend to be Democratic voters, and it's kind of diluting their voting power.

And we've got a lot of leaders who are very concerned about that.

- In Pinellas County in general, how does this change voters responses?

- Yeah.

Well, you know, in 2022, the last redistricting effort, St.

Petersburg was split in half east west, and you're already dividing.

St.

Petersburg is the fifth largest city in the state for population.

Again, very blue city.

So you're already kind of dividing and conquering so as to say there.

And now at this point, you're just kind of taking St.

Pete kind of almost out of the equation with another kind of area that there's just not a lot in common there.

And I think, you know, there's a lot of collective interest, of course, between St.

Petersburg and Tampa.

You know, these are big urban areas with big populations, big city problems.

They're just not the same as what's going on in kind of like the heartland of Florida.

- Gary, let's, let's talk about Polk County and Lakeland.

How does this map, What does it mean to the residents of Lakeland in the Greater Lakeland area?

- Um, well, what happens in Polk County, especially Lakeland County, the opposite of what they've been talking about.

It's bringing Lakeland back together.

The current map, or the one that was went into place in 2022, split Lakeland right down the middle.

Um, District 15 to the west, Laurel Lee's district and then District 18 to the east.

Scott Franklin's district.

Um, this new map would put most of Polk County in all of Lakeland in District 18.

Um, so Polk County would go from four congressional districts to three.

But you could almost say Polk is essentially one district, because the two other districts would have fewer than 15,000 voters in them.

District nine, which is Darren Soto's district.

And then District 11 is leaving Polk entirely.

That's Daniel Webster's district.

And then District 16 now would take in southwest Polk County along with other counties.

- Colleen said that is a lot for voters to keep track of.

Um, what are you hearing from registered Republicans and Democrats when you're out in the community doing interviews on reaction to this?

- Well, the reactions have been about what you expect.

They break down on partisan lines.

I mean, Democrats are outraged.

They say this is partisan gerrymandering.

It's unconstitutional.

It violates the Fair Districts Act.

And the Republican response has been that they support this.

And they agree with governor DeSantis that this is justified because of population changes and that this better reflects the true population of Florida.

- So before we pivot to our next topic, we do want to give some important dates, election dates for Floridians to keep in mind.

If you need to register to vote or change your party affiliation ahead of the August primary, the deadline to do so is July the 20th.

To vote in November's general election.

The deadline is October the 5th.

And now it's time for our big stories of the week.

It's a segment of the show where we highlight issues that our panelists know best, and that our viewers may want to know more about.

Starting us off is the St.

Petersburg mayoral race recently becoming significantly more competitive?

Former Florida governor Charlie Crist officially filed to run last week.

He is challenging incumbent Mayor Ken Welch in a crowded field of seven candidates in all, the primary is set for August the 18th.

Colleen, this is something that you've been following closely.

What is the latest information in this race?

- So the latest is that Charlie Crist officially jumped in the race after teasing kind of a run for some months.

He opened a new political committee last year in October.

And even before entering the race, he has $1.2 million.

That is far and beyond any other candidate.

Mayor Ken Welch has raised a little just right under a half a million.

So, you know, if fundraising is a barometer of support, it.

Charlie has a lot.

And then if you look at cash on hand, Charlie, former Governor Charlie Crist has about $1.1 million in the bank.

Incumbent Mayor Ken Welch, he's still missing $207,500 from his former treasurer that was running the political committee that was supporting him.

And that money is still missing.

And he's got around just a little bit less than 200,000 on hand.

And as you've mentioned, you know, there are other candidates in the race there.

They're fundraising, too, but they don't have anything near what Governor Charlie Crist has.

- Well, we'll continue to follow it for us.

Another big story we have today takes us into Polk County.

A proposal to build one of Florida's largest data centers is drawing scrutiny in rural areas there.

The hyperscale facility would span more than 1300 acres near Fort Meade at full capacity.

It would consume enough energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

Gary, what happened at the last meeting?

- Well, at the last city commission meeting, the Fort Meade City Commission approved a development agreement with the developer company from Maryland to move forward with this.

The company offered to pay 10 million in advance of property taxes for the city to use for various purposes.

And they're also paying $300,000 to help Fort Meade secure future water supplies.

- And many of the voters came out against this and spoke publicly during the meeting.

Um, this is not a done deal.

Correct.

They still have to get more permits.

- Yes.

Well, the Southwest Florida Water Management District requires a separate water use permit for data centers.

That's a rule they created a few months ago.

And of course, any big project like this requires permitting from various state and federal agencies as well.

And I should add, the day after this vote in Fort Meade, the Florida Commerce Secretary sent a pretty strongly worded letter to the mayor of Fort Meade criticizing the approval process.

So it'll be interesting to see if the state tries to take any other steps to make it harder for this project to go forward.

- Lakeland Ledger will certainly continue to watch it for us.

Nicholas, what would you say is on the ACLU docket that that's most interesting that voters should know about?

- Yeah.

Well, we just got a pretty important ruling from the Federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta this week in an immigration case, an issue around the country that courts have been facing.

The Trump administration last year changed decades of practice in deciding that immigrants, pending their immigration cases, had to be detained and be in jail while their court case played out.

Dozens of judges around the country said, that's illegal.

That's not what the law says.

These folks are entitled to a determination of bond, essentially.

And and that's what the Court of Appeals agreed with and ruled with us in a case that the ACLU brought last week.

- Um, so the folks who are currently detained, will they be automatically released or what, what does that logistically look like?

- Right.

So they'll be entitled to petition for, for a bond hearing just like anyone else.

And, and if they're not at risk, they can return to their families, their communities, their jobs, pay taxes.

And while they wait for their case to play out.

- Well, our thanks to all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come in today.

We so appreciate your expertise.

As always, we thank our panelists Gary White, Nicholas Warren, and Colleen Wright.

On behalf of the entire team here at WEDU.

Thank you so much for watching.

We know you've got plenty of choices for your news and information, and we thank you for choosing us.