WASHINGTON— House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) has stirred the pot again, this time he has disturbed the Republican hornet’s nest by threatening to “aggressively" target members of the Florida Republican delegation in the 2026 midterm elections, if Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature redraw congressional district lines to favor Republicans.
Leader Jeffries remark comes on the heels of Virginia voters voting to redraw the state’s 11 congressional seats. The current redistricting map would give Democrats a 10-1 congressional seat advantage over Republicans.
While Gov. DeSantis was not available for comment on the Jeffries threat, several members of Florida’s Republican congressional delegation, including several of the lawmakers Jeffries mention, did have a lot to say over the remarks.
Republicans Targeted:
Reps. Carlos Gimenez, Maria Elvira Salazar, Mario Diaz-Balart, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, Brian Mast, and Laurel Lee.
“Bring it on. I welcome it,” said Rep. Kat Cammack when asked about the threat.
Rep. Mast told The Floridian, “I don’t pay that much attention to Hakeem. but if he said that, better people have tried.”
“This is the Democratic game. I love it. And I welcome it. At the end of the day, the constituents are the ones who have the final word,” added Rep. Salazar.
“I’m the third lowest Republican seat in the state of Florida. Clearly, that’s always been the DCCC targets, it’s a flipped seat that I flipped away from Stephanie murphy,” said Rep. Mills in response to our question about the Jeffries comment.
While Reps. Randy Fine, Jimmy Patronis, and Greg Steube were not mentioned in Jeffries’ remarks, all three lawmakers were critical of Democrats with Rep. Patronis saying that he hoped Jeffries follows through with his threat.
“I think he’s setting his money on fire. I hope he does it,” said Rep. Patronis
“I didn’t make so-called Hakeem’s list. A little disappointed in that,” said Rep. Fine. “We’re going to do great. We’ll be fine. We are going to run our races. This is Florida we are talking about.”
Rep. Steube called Democrats hypocrites over redistricting in response to the Virginia redistricting results.
“Its really rich when these guys are gerrymandering the crap out of Virginia,” said Rep. Steube. “Complete hypocrisy.”
The Republican-led Florida Legislature convenes next week to redraw the state’s congressional maps.
