Ron DeSantis Plays Hardball on Redistricting

I’ve been pondering for a while now what Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s next move will be after leaving office. Surely a man as intellectually restless as DeSantis is destined for some kind of interesting third act, no? His two terms as governor have been an unalloyed success for conservative principle, and in an age of populist revolt his combination of bulldog combativeness, laser focus, and executive competence has proven ideal in a state that he has swung deep into the Republican red over the last seven years or so.

The presidential stage proved to be one step too far. But the idea of a guy like DeSantis quietly wasting away in Margaritaville like yet another Florida retiree — after all this, and while still so relatively young — just seems absurd. Some float his name as a potential Supreme Court justice to replace Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito, and I have to chuckle: In many ways DeSantis seems born for the job of dense, closely argued legal disputation . . . but then again collegiality matters too, and I have a hard time imagining DeSantis sitting patiently next to Sonia Sotomayor (or not spitting out his coffee) as she talks.

So what’s next for Captain Ron? The only thing for certain is that he’s leaving office still throwing fists. After waiting for the outcome in Virginia’s gerrymandering referendum, DeSantis has unveiled his proposal for Florida’s new congressional map, and it’s a direct counter-response: a current 20–8 Republican/Democratic delegation would, under DeSantis’s proposed map, go to a 24–4 one.

This is a map that not only plays hardball — we are now well into the bellum omnium contra omnes phase of the Great 2026 Gerrymänderung — but one that also screams, "I'm keeping all my post-governor options very much open." And yet there is also something qualitatively different about Florida’s proposed new map: It is so much more compact and seemingly sensible in its aesthetics. Why, look at those four little beautiful, geographically sensible-looking pools of blue amid a sea of square-shaped red! Compared with the horrors of Virginia’s wildly drawn lines, this looks like Renaissance art.

Make no mistake: This is a savagely cynical gerrymander. It does positively disgusting things to the Tampa/St. Petersburg region, dismembering the Democratic hub (and swingy suburbs) among several surrounding districts. That it makes all of this look almost normal and compact is largely a trick of Florida’s demographic geography. In fact, I worry about whether these districts can be defended in an environment likely to be as difficult for Republicans as 2026.

But I worry less than I used to. And I certainly don’t care about “fairness” or “norms” anymore, not after having clung to those like flotsam from a shipwreck for half a year. Most of downstate Virginia is about to be represented by five guys from Fairfax County, and these particular ones don't even serve Cajun fries. If the redistricting arms race is now truly unavoidable, then logic dictates this response. I hope DeSantis gets his map — and I hope to see more of him after 2026.