DADE CITY, Fla. — The new 15th Congressional District stretches across a large portion of the Tampa Bay region, bringing together communities with very different geographic and demographic characteristics.
The district includes all of Citrus County, all of Hernando County, and portions of Pasco County and Hillsborough County.
Andy Cobb, who lives in Dade City, said the size and diversity of the district raises questions about how one member of Congress will address the needs of its different communities.
“Somebody that’s responsible for all of it, I find it hard to believe that they are going to address everybody’s specific issues,” Cobb said.
Looking at the new map, Cobb said he was struck by the differences between rural communities, such as those in Citrus County, and more suburban areas, such as Temple Terrace.
“It’s two totally different worlds. When you drive through Temple Terrace, or you drive up to Citrus County, you feel like you are in a different state once you get up there,” he said.
The previous District 15 included more of Hillsborough and Pasco counties, along with portions of Polk County.
Republican political consultant Anthony Pedicini with Strategic Image Management said the old district had an unusual shape and was sometimes referred to as “the blob” because of the way it was drawn across Central Florida.
“Now it’s a Nature Coast seat that goes all the way from Hillsborough into Hernando and just straddles the coast,” Pedicini said.
Pedicini said the new district is significantly more Republican politically and can be viewed as a collection of communities with shared interests.
“I think whether you live in Temple Terrace or you live out in a trailer in the middle of Pasco’s beautiful forest that I hunt in, you want to know that my electric bill is not going to go up another 33% in four years, that my car insurance isn’t going to go up another 20% like it has in the last two years and you want to fight for a candidate that’s going to make life more affordable,” he said.
Democratic campaign strategist Kevin Lata sees the new map differently.
“You are asking a member of Congress to represent totally different types of people that live totally different ways of life,” Lata said.
Lata said Republican lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis drew the new map with political power in mind.
“It wasn’t for the best interest of the people. It wasn’t for the best interest of those communities; it was how many Republican seats can we try to squeeze out of Florida? It does not matter the cost,” he said.
A voting rights group challenged the new congressional map in court. The Florida Supreme Court has cleared the way for the boundaries to be used in this year’s election.
“Whether you want to say the intentions were political or geographical, who knows? But communities of interest, I think, are more connected: the rural Hillsborough, with the rural Pasco, with the rural Hernando and Citrus, versus the more suburban South Tampa with East Hillsborough and Brandon; all these things kind of combine and it makes it more fun,” he said.
The new boundaries are also expected to make District 15 more favorable to Republicans.
Under the new lines, Donald Trump would have won the district by about 20 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. Under the previous boundaries, his margin would have been about 11 percentage points.
Republican Laurel Lee is running for reelection.
On the Democratic side, Christopher Irizarry and Robert People are facing off in the Aug. 18 primary. The winner will face Lee in November.
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