{"id":39849,"date":"2026-04-23T15:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/39849\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:44:12","slug":"desantis-mocks-jeffries-over-florida-redistricting-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/39849\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis mocks Jeffries over Florida redistricting threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Ron DeSantis is mocking Rep. Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> over the Democratic leader\u2019s threat to unleash \u201cmaximum war\u201d if the Sunshine State seeks to redraw its congressional districts to benefit Republicans.<\/p>\n

DeSantis jokingly offered to pay for the Brooklyn lawmaker to travel to Florida<\/a> and campaign against the GOP as it considers a new map that could flip anywhere from two to five seats<\/a> from blue to red.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cI\u2019ll put you up in the Florida governor\u2019s mansion. We\u2019ll take you fishing. We\u2019ll do all this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis laughs before a roundtable discussion on college sports in the East Room of the White House, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

The failed 2024 presidential candidate<\/a>, who is barred by term limits from running for reelection, suggested that Jeffries would be a political albatross for Democrats<\/a> and would only boost the GOP\u2019s chances of winning more seats in the November midterm congressional elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries \u2026 everywhere around this state,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cVoters will not like what they see, they will not want that type of ideology.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the door is open, the invitation\u2019s out there,\u201d he added, deriding Jeffries as a \u201cdollar store Obama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffries isn\u2019t backing down. After voters approved a referendum in Virginia that will give Democrats a chance to flip four Republican-held seats, he vowed \u201cmaximum war\u201d<\/a> if DeSantis seeks to retaliate in Florida.<\/p>\n

He name-checked several Republican incumbent lawmakers<\/a> who could potentially face tough reelection races, especially if Republicans tinker with the map to wipe out Democratic seats.<\/p>\n

A Democratic campaign group Wednesday announced a $20 million down payment on targeting GOP lawmakers in Florida<\/a>, where Democrats have dramatically outperformed expectations in a string of recent special elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe charismatically challenged lame duck governor asked for an early Christmas present. He just got one,\u201d Jeffries tweeted.<\/a><\/p>\n

The war of words erupted as Florida prepares to weigh in the nationwide mid-decade redistricting war<\/a> as soon as next week.<\/p>\n

DeSantis has called a special session of the Florida legislature where it may consider a new redistricting plan<\/a> that could further boost the GOP\u2019s current 20-8 edge.<\/p>\n

Although no new map has been made public, DeSantis may hope to burnish his clout<\/a> with national Republicans and Trump by flipping as many Democratic seats as possible.<\/p>\n

But some Florida Republicans, including jittery incumbent lawmakers, are warning against any major changes. Creating new Republican-friendly districts would shift Democratic-leaning voters into GOP-held seats, potentially leading to trouble for sitting GOP lawmakers as polls suggest voters are prepared to deliver an anti-Trump blue wave<\/a> in the midterms.<\/p>\n

Trump launched the unprecedented state-by-state battle that the White House believed would help it cling to its narrow majority in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

But the gambit has backfired and Democrats are now poised to gain more seats overall after Virginia joined several states<\/a> on both sides of the aisle to redraw district maps.<\/p>\n

Pundits and betting markets now consider Democrats are overwhelming favorites to retake the House and install Jeffries as the first Black Speaker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Ron DeSantis is mocking Rep. Hakeem Jeffries over the Democratic leader\u2019s threat to unleash \u201cmaximum war\u201d if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[25935,477,12,96,24728,485,491,1417,1187,5231,1791,1287],"class_list":{"0":"post-39849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hakeem-jeffries","8":"tag-blue-wave","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-gerrymander","13":"tag-hakeem-jeffries","14":"tag-house-of-representatives","15":"tag-midterms","16":"tag-redistricting","17":"tag-republican","18":"tag-ron-desantis","19":"tag-virginia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116454795803078394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}