LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Wednesday they will press for new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms, reigniting a partisan battle over redistricting that has Democrats warning of election manipulation and Republicans insisting on fairness.
At a press conference in Lake Worth, DeSantis said Florida was shortchanged in the last U.S. census and deserves additional congressional seats and Electoral College votes. He and Uthmeier said they plan to push the Census Bureau and work with the Trump administration to secure relief.
“I think most people know we were undercounted in that census,” DeSantis told reporters. “Even the Biden administration, a couple years later, said that there was under count in Florida, that Florida should have gotten at least one more seat in Congress… I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but every state that did that got short changed was a Republican state, and every state that got more was a Democrat state, that's just the truth about how that census was applied.”
Uthmeier called the count part of a political effort to diminish red states.
“It's clear that there's been for a long time now, a deep state effort to manipulate the census and shift electoral power to blue states, to sanctuary states,” he said. “The Census Bureau themselves have admitted that Florida should have had more representation. Florida citizens deserve the adequate representation in Congress. They deserve the adequate representation in the Electoral College.”
The Census Bureau regularly conducts a “Post-Enumeration Survey” to “offer insights into how well a decennial census counted the population.” The Bureau notes the data “cannot be used to change the final census count” but it’s useful in assessing the current census, determining how best to estimate the population between now and 2030, plus it helps improve future censuses.
The PES did show Republican-led states like Florida were undercounted, but Democrat-led states like Illinois as well. Conversely, states like Ohio and Utah, both controlled by Republican governors, were shown with overcounts.
If Florida is awarded another congressional seat, DeSantis said, lawmakers would be forced to redraw the state’s 28 (29, if successful) districts within months. A recent state Supreme Court case on race-based districts could also drive map changes regardless of census action.
“This could be something that would require us to do even more, and we're going to be ready and willing and able to do it,” DeSantis said.
The announcement comes as Florida Democrats ramp up their opposition to mid-decade redistricting. Earlier this week, the Florida Democratic Party hosted a virtual call to action that drew nearly 7,000 participants. Party Chair Nikki Fried called the GOP’s push “an attempt to rig the system.”
“Florida voters aren’t dumb, and they know that attempts by the Florida GOP to redraw maps are nothing more than an attempt to rig the system,” Fried said. “Congressional maps are drawn once a decade, after a Federal census, not when a political party is afraid of losing power.”
Fried accused Republicans of trying to “steal the 2026 elections,” warning the changes would erode democracy. “When you're going into a conversation with malintent, to steal an election, to take away people's rights to have representation that reflects their communities, this is what you get,” she said.
Florida GOP Chair Evan Power countered that the effort is about correcting past political gerrymandering.
“The Florida map already looks great, but there's ways we can improve it to make it look more compact, more fair, and give people the representation that they deserve and that they've asked for,” Power said. “The Democrats have rigged this system against the voters, and we are now giving the power back to the people.”
Fried said Democrats will fight back through grassroots organizing rather than procedural maneuvers, calling the issue bigger than partisan politics. “This is not a Democratic issue. This is a democracy issue,” she said.
There are some truly inspiring people who call the Tampa Bay area home. People who overcome odds that others could not even imagine. Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain met a woman who is doing just that, as she competes at an international level after 2 life-saving lung transplants.
