Area gains one state senator, consolidated Congress seat
By Kyle LoJacono
The Florida Senate has shifted through redistricting options offered up by more than 1,600 citizens and has released proposed alignments that will shape the state’s political future for the next decade.
Last week, the state Senate released district maps for its own 40-member legislative body and Florida’s U.S. House of Representatives seats.
The process was made more complicated because Florida gained two new House representatives, up to 27 total, because of increasing population during the last 10 years. Each district needs to have about the same number of people living within it.
“Some counties and cities will have more than one senator or congressperson because of dense population,” said redistricting committee chairman Sen. Don Gaetz. “Others had to be divided to protect minority voting rights and avoid retrogression. We heard and respected the testimony of hundreds of Floridians who said, ‘Keep our community together.’ Wherever we could, we heeded what people living in communities and neighborhoods told us made sense to them.”
The state Senate also needed to carve out the pair of new districts while following the newly passed Amendments 5 and 6 approved by voters to Florida’s Constitution, which prohibit any gerrymandering to keep certain politicians or parties in power.
“Months ahead of past redistricting schedules … the Senate committee has produced a product which is fair, sensible and faithful to the law,” Gaetz said.
The new lines not only give the area one more state senator, but also give Pasco County more political power in Congress.
The old state Senate alignments gave the area two seats — District 12 and 5.
District 12, represented by Republican Jim Norman, covers central Pasco, Lutz, Odessa, Wesley Chapel and all of east Pasco except Zephyrhills. District 10 included Zephyrhills and New Tampa.
The new proposed lines shrink District 12’s borders because of population growth in the area. If passed, the alignment would still include all of Lutz, Odessa and Wesley Chapel, but chops off all of central Pasco north of SR 52. It also would pick up Zephyrhills while losing the rest of east Pasco including Dade City.
The areas of north and east Pasco lost by District 12 would be lumped into District 11, which would also include west Pasco and Hernando and most of Sumter counties. Republican Mike Fasano currently represents District 11.
District 10, represented by Republican Ronda Storms, currently includes Zephyrhills, but its new proposed alignment keeps it entirely in Hillsborough County. It would still represent New Tampa.
As for the U.S. Representative districts, central and east Pasco are currently included in District 5, represented by Republican Rich Nugent. The alignment also includes all or parts of Hernando, Citrus, Lake, Levy, Marion, Sumter and Polk counties. It is the largest geographic district in Florida and the seventh largest in the country.
The number of people from numerous diverse areas made central and east Pasco citizens a relatively small percentage of District 5, but that would change with the proposed alignments.
The plan would forge out a new District 26 from most of District 5’s northern territory. The result is a District 5 composed only of Pasco and Hernando as whole counties and also a small part of western Polk.
Northern Hillsborough, including Lutz, Odessa and New Tampa, would continue to be in District 9 represented by Republican Gus Bilirakis.
Gaetz said the plan was developed based “On bipartisan guidelines agreed to by all 24 of the Democrats and Republicans on the committee. All directions to staff and committee procedures have been agreed to in a bipartisan manner by the Senate Majority Leader, Andy Gardiner, and the Senate Minority Leader, Nan Rich.”
Once adopted, the new district boundaries will stay in place for 10 years. After that, new lines will be drawn based on population changes found in the 2020 U.S. Census.
The new districts must be set by the 2012 general election next November. However, Gaetz said he predicts the state Legislature will approve the proposed maps in late January or early February.
People can still give their suggestions or criticisms of the proposed districts by calling toll-free (850) 487-5757, e-mailing , attending the state Senate’s meeting in Tallahassee on Dec. 6 or by sending letters to 103 Senate Office Building, 404 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32399.
For additional information, visit the state Senate’s website at www.flsenate.gov.
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