TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s new congressional boundaries drawn by Gov. Ron DeSantis were blocked from being used in this year’s elections Wednesday by a Leon County circuit judge who ruled they discriminate against Black voters in North Florida.
The decision, certain to be appealed by the state, brings a new level of at least temporary chaos to this year’s election season, with candidate qualifying for congressional seats in Florida only a month away.
At the heart of the case is the current Congressional District 5 held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat whose seat stretches from Jacksonville to the Tallahassee area, and includes Gadsden County, the state’s only majority Black county.
