Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power responded to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) over threats that Democrats will go after Florida congressional Republicans if Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature proceed with redrawing the state's congressional map during an expected special session next week.
“Hakeem Jeffries is like a schoolyard bully who beats you up and then threatens you not to tell anyone," Power wrote.
"If Democrats want to come to Florida and burn more of their donors’ money, we welcome it — because we will beat them again and again. They already dumped over $20 million into recent Florida special congressional elections and got crushed by double digits," Power added. "Nothing has changed. Floridians have rejected their failed agenda, and they’ll do it again. We have already seen his maximum warfare, and it is like Hakeem Jeffries – weak.”
Chairman Power's response comes after Leader Jeffries called out several Florida congressional Republicans following Virginia's passage of new congressional maps on Tuesday, which critics have called heavily gerrymandered. Power is also running for Congress in Florida's 2nd District.
Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Kat Cammack (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Brian Mast (R-FL), and others were all called out by Jeffries in a statement.
"If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump's dummymander in Texas," Jeffries said.
Gerrymandering is the redrawing of electoral boundaries, usually for a partisan advantage. The process can often give one political party and its voters an advantage, while leaving the other disenfranchised.
While the process typically happens every 10 years following updated figures from the U.S. Census, recent mid-decade changes from Texas, California, Virginia, and potentially Florida have upended political norms.
Virginia's new map could give Democrats a 10-1 advantage over Republicans from its original 6-5 split.
Florida is set for redistricting talks on April 28, 2026. Notably, Gov. DeSantis has not issued a proposed map ahead of the date.
