Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wants U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to campaign in Florida after the New York Democrat warned the GOP’s desire to redraw the Florida congressional map will backfire.
In Jacksonville on Wednesday, DeSantis dared Jeffries to come to Florida, betting his liberal politics would push Floridians into the GOP camp in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Please, be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion,” DeSantis said during a bill signing event.
“We’ll take you fishing. We’ll do all this stuff. There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Hakeem Jeffries everywhere around this state,” DeSantis continued. “Voters will not like what they see. They will not want that type of ideology. And so the door is open. The invitation is out there. I don’t think there’d be anything better for the Republican Party of Florida.”
Addressing reporters in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Jeffries had questioned the GOP’s desire to redraw congressional lines in Florida after voters in Virginia narrowly approved a Democratic-backed referendum redrawing that state’s districts.
“If they go down the road of a DeSantis dummymander, the Florida Republicans are going to find themselves in the same situation as Texas Republicans, who are on the run right now,” Jeffries said. “The Republicans are dummymandering their way into the minority before a single vote is cast.”
The Republican Party of Florida called the Virginia referendum “a blatant partisan power grab designed to rig congressional elections and prop up an increasingly unpopular national Democrat brand.”
Florida lawmakers are scheduled to begin a special session Tuesday to consider new congressional districts. As of Thursday morning no bills had been put forward on DeSantis’ desired changes.
Any new map is expected to draw legal challenges.
Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, issued a statement Wednesday reiterating that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional in Florida.
“Any attempt to redraw congressional districts right now is a direct response to President Trump’s call for partisan gerrymandering and that is illegal in Florida,” Driskell said in a statement.
The actions by Florida and Virginia were kicked off last year by President Trump, who urged Republican leaders to redraw maps so the GOP could hold the U.S. House in the mid-term election. Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah and California have implemented new maps.
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This article appears in Apr. 23 – 29, 2026.