After the Democratic Party closed, Fla. Republicans Pass New Congressional Map That Kills Black Districts

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida house that passed a new congressional map on Thursday, shortly after Democratic lawmakers closed the state’s special legislative session for over an hour with prayer and sitting in the chamber.

The room traversed the map just before 1 p.m. when two Black Democratic Party members shouted shouts and reactions to protest it. The new map was drawn at the insistence of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who demanded the removal of a Black congressional seat; Democrats say the redrawn districts shed light on the political power of Blacks in the state. The Senate voted Wednesday to pass the map.

The noisy and chaotic process marked the end of an unusual stalemate between state legislators, who typically control redistricting, and a governor who has personally engaged in the process to secure a substantial political advantage for his party across the country.

The surprising act of defiance starts with a little bit before noon, when Representative Yvonne Hinson passed her allotted speech time and cut off her microphone, leaving other Black legislators unacknowledged and gathered in the center of the chamber. room, showing off shirts that read “Stop the Black Attack” and sitting on the blue carpet of the state-sealed floor.

In total, four Black lawmakers and one Hispanic representative — Hinson, Angie Nixon, Travaris McCurdy, Felicia Robinson and Susan Valdés — occupied the center of the room as bewildered Republicans watched.

House Speaker Chris Sprowls tried to order them out, and when they refused to comply, the session was put into an indefinite recess. The Republicans then left; the television feed for the Florida Channel, which was broadcasting the session, was cut; an Associated Press photographer was kicked off the floor by a sergeant and had his media taken away; and top security officials also kicked out some members of the viewing public from the gallery and barred others from entering.

“We’re locking the door right now,” one sergeant explained.

The Democrats, alone in their chambers, prayed and chanted.

Representative Dotie Joseph led a vigil showing the Republican party was under the control of Satan, whom she called the “Enemy.”

“We have now stacked all the Enemy works – all the Enemy works – trying to divide us, trying to distract us with a culture war,” she said. speak. the highest and greatest commandment: that we will love you and we will love each other, and that people will know you by our work and the way we treat each other. “

Rep. Anna Eskamani led a song as Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith appeared to broadcast live from the floor.

Under Florida House rules, a speaker has the right to force members to be removed, but after an hour of commencement, he or she has failed to exercise that right.

Instead, the GOP majority went into effect an hour later, determined to cross the map. Hinson stood in the center of the floor, on the seal, while Nixon and McCurdy sat beside her.

Nixon shouted: “when the Black votes are attacked, what do we do?”

“Stand up and fight back!” McCurdy shouted back.

The two join in on the call and answer, drowning out Sprowls’ voice over the speaker system as he tries to talk about the decorum.

But Republicans could hear him enough, and when he called for a vote, the map easily passed, and the Republican majority erupted into loud applause, overwhelming McCurdy and Nixon. .

The speaker then introduced legislation to change Disney’s special self-governance. Nixon and McCurdy continued to chant while the Republicans voted again, and won, clapped again, and the session ended.

Republicans in the Legislature previously passed two different maps to ensure Republicans a small political edge while preserving much of the current, one-seat, current 5th Congressional District. held by Blacks with politically powerful Black voters. The lawmakers’ map is an attempt to comply with constitutional amendments that oppose state rule, which favors one party or another and denies minority representation.

But DeSantis said the congressional seat in north Florida was a racial critic that violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution and vetoed the plans, continuing to call for this week’s special session to pass to another map. His office proposed a plan to create four new Republican seats while eliminating three Democratic seats, including the current 5th district.

GOP lawmakers, with little incentive to continue fighting their popular governor, raised the governors map quickly this week.

During Thursday morning’s debate, Democrats hailed the plan’s defiance of federal and state laws.

“Our job is to pass something that complies with the Florida constitution, including the Fair County provisions and with the federal Voting Rights Act,” said Representative Joseph Geller, a party member. Democrats represent parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties said. “Our job is to obey the law as it is, and this map clearly doesn’t do that.”

State Representative Randy Fine, a Republican representing parts of Brevard County, argued that his party did not give in to the governor because they initially approved plans he opposed.

“We’re not mindless automatons. We’re not doing this because we’re bullied. We’re doing this because we think it’s right,” he said. “Today, we’re going to pass the maps that are constitutional and they’ll be sued, and we’ll find out if the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution reigns supreme over the state constitution. Florida or not. That’s the discussion at hand.”

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