The Florida Senate discussed its new map Tuesday eventually settling on handful changes near Miami. And lawmakers had a lot on their plate with twenty different options to choose from.
Sen. Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) earned a pyrrhic victory Friday. He successfully moved his version of the Senate map out of committee, but heading to the floor it was weighed down with nearly twenty amendments—different versions of the maps fellow members hoped might supplant the Galvano proposal. Sen. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) came prepared with a number of offerings including one keeping Alachua and Clay counties separate.
“There was a lot of discussion between those political operatives who had a political intent to link up those two counties,” Clemens says, “and so in most of the base maps they take great pains to make sure they don’t do that.”
Clemens criticizes Galvano’s proposal for connecting the two, but lawmakers rejected Clemens’ amendment on a voice vote.
Later, the Senate approved a change offered by Miami Republican Miguel Diaz De La Portilla. He says the map creates districts that are more compact in Miami-Dade County, and it preserves Hispanic representation.
“I’ve mentioned the idea of Miami-Dade County preserving three Hispanic majority seats because it’s important for the community that I represent in Miami-Dade County at this moment and that has been represented by other Hispanics up here, to have Hispanic representation in the Senate, absolutely,” Diaz De La Portilla explains.
But the proposal could raise eyebrows in the House and in the courts. Diaz De La Portilla’s amendment avoids placing him and fellow Republican Anitere Flores within the same district. Senate Democrats delayed a final vote on the map, but lawmakers are preparing to take it up Wednesday.
