St Johns County Senate District 6 defined

Historic City News has received the Florida Senate redrawn district maps; approved after some last-minute adjustments applied yesterday over objections from half the chamber’s Democrats who said, “it did not go far enough to shake up the existing Republican supermajority”.

The revised map gives some senators the chance to serve for 10 years. Much of the discussion was focused on “fairness”, but no small portion of the debate centered on how reapportioning Senate districts affected potential election contests between existing senators.

The Senate applied the following “fixes” to comply with the court’s rejection of the original redistricting plan:

–      divide the Panhandle vertically

–      redraw three minority districts to make them more compact

–      re-number the districts using the results of a lottery-style drawing

The final map passed 31-6, and now heads to the House and then the state Supreme Court for their approval.

ST AUGUSTINE AND ST JOHNS COUNTY IN A NUTSHELL:
District: 6

Voting age population (%):
Hispanic: 5.6
White: 81.4
Black: 10.3
Other: 2.8

2010 Gubernatorial election: (%)
Voted for Sink: 39.5
Voted for Scott: 56.9

2008 Presidential election (%)
Voted for Obama: 42.9
Voted for McCain: 56.0

Registered voters: (%)
Democrats: 36.3
Republicans: 41.8
Independents: 21.9

St Augustine Republican Senator, John Thrasher, objected to one proposal that could help two incumbent Republican senators by keeping them in separate districts so they wouldn’t have to run against each other.  Thrasher questioned whether it was necessary.

Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Destin, and Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, won the amendment, however, arguing that it would ensure the area surrounding Plant City remains with the rest of Hillsborough County.

The amendment passed on a narrow 20-15 vote. It would preserve another change suggested by the court and included in Gaetz’s revised plan: putting Lakeland in a single district. The city had filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing it should not have been split between two districts.

The Senate rejected two proposed tweaks of districts around South Florida and Volusia counties that were proposed by Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale. Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portillia, R-Miami, withdrew another amendment, which would have created a fourth predominantly Hispanic district in Miami-Dade County. He said the change in the demographics of the region called for the change, and hinted it could come up later.

The House is slated to take up the revised map in committee on Monday, and needs to approve it on the floor by Wednesday, the conclusion of the 15-day extraordinary session. This was the only chance for lawmakers to revise the Senate map, which will be in the hands of the Supreme Court once it receives final approval.

Gaetz said the Legislature’s “aggressive” redistricting calendar should allow the plan to clear all of its legal hurdles before the June 8 qualifying deadline. He also said that under the revised plan, districts would be more compact than under previous district maps, and the Senate would likely include more minority members than ever before if the plan takes effect as it is drawn.

Critics of the revisions said that although it redraws the eight districts singled out by the court and alters 24 of the districts in the original plan, most incumbents would be safe.

“This map still has the effect of protecting incumbents,” said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, who voted against the plan along with five other Democrats. “I do not want the Supreme Court to finish the job that we were supposed to complete.”