MSNBC: ‘GOP’s Dominance in Florida is All About Gerrymandering’

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – As many in Florida celebrate election results following the Republican dominance in the 2022 Election, some outlets are blaming the win on gerrymandering, or manipulation of the boundaries of an electoral constituency to favor one side, on the Democrats’ shellacking.

MSNBC sent out a quote from ReidOut Blog writer Ja’han Jones saying, “The GOP’s dominance in Florida is all about gerrymandering.”

Twitter users sounded off against the claim, saying, “How do you Gerrymander a state wide election?”

While there are claims of gerrymandering on the congressional, state house, and state senate districts, courts have upheld them and DeSantis’ map is more geometrically even than the prior cycle’s map. Those maps, however, don’t impact the results of statewide races, like the governor and U.S. Senate election.

User @AdmiralWaugh said, “….he won Miami-Dade County.”

DeSantis’ statewide victory is the largest win by a Republican governor in at least a century, defeating Democrat Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points.

Many traditionally blue counties were flipped red, including Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Osceola, Hillsborough, and Pinellas, throwing doubt into the narrative that gerrymandering is to blame for Democrats’ losses.

On Election night in Florida, Senate President-Designate Kathleen Passidomo celebrated the incoming supermajority in the state legislature.

Tonight’s outcome is not solely the result of superior organization, or resource and voter registration advantages. To be sure, those were vital to overcome the corporate media’s nearly universal alignment with our opponents and their agenda. Any narrative that blames money or voter registration, and even a natural disaster, is dismissing the outcry of Floridians who are fed up with being blamed for wanting to live their lives without fear of radical, socialist intervention.

Senate President-Designate Kathleen Passidomo

It was previously reported the congressional map Gov. Ron DeSantis signed was set to give Republicans nearly one-third of the seats needed to take back the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Republicans said the new map is constitutional and avoids racial gerrymandering while Democrats claim it disenfranchises black voters and violates the Fair Districts amendment Florida voters passed in 2010. Democrats filed a lawsuit on those grounds.

The Florida Supreme Court said it would not hear the case challenging the map, saying “it does not have jurisdiction” to intervene in the 1st District Court of Appeal’s ongoing consideration of an appeal of an order imposing a temporary injunction.

Earlier in May, the 2nd Judicial Circuit Judge said the new map is unconstitutional because it “diminishes African Americans’ ability to elect the representative of their choice.” That judge granted a temporary injunction to prevent the map from going into effect. 

However, the DeSantis Administration appealed that decision and a federal appeals court reinstated the congressional map “pending the court’s disposition of the motion for review of the trial court’s vacatur of the automatic stay.”

The map DeSantis signed eliminates two districts, District 5 and District 10, that are drawn in favor of a minority black population to elect a Democrat in their respective districts. 

The Governor’s executive chief of staff said District 10 in Orange County does not have a significant amount of minorities to elect a candidate of their choice. That district is 26% black.