For anybody who still thinks that DeSantis isn't ruling like a tinhorn dictator in Florida, and that if (when) he's reelected he's only going to get worse, there's this news item: in Florida, as in most states, it's the legislature and not the governor who drives the redistricting process after each census. Even though the Florida legislature is deep-red Republican, DeSantis actually thought their gerrymandering of US House districts wasn't good enough and pressured them to go back and draw districts that were even more heavily gerrymandered for the GOP than the legislature wanted to go.
Specifically, DeSantis had the legislature eliminate a black-majority district that they had not originally targeted. This is how democracy works in Florida right now:
"The surprising act of defiance began a little before noon, when Rep. Yvonne Hinson went over her allotted speaking time and had her microphone cut off, prompting other Black legislators to stand without being recognized and gather in the center of the chamber, showing off shirts that read “Stop the Black Attack” and sitting on the state seal on the blue carpet.
In all, four Black legislators and a Hispanic representative — Hinson, Angie Nixon, Travaris McCurdy, Felicia Robinson and Daisy Morales — occupied the center of the chamber as bewildered Republicans looked on.
House Speaker Chris Sprowls tried to rule them out of order, and when they refused to comply, the session was gaveled into an indefinite recess. The Republicans then left; the TV feed to the Florida Channel, which was broadcasting the session, was cut; an Associated Press photographer was kicked off the floor by the sergeant-at-arms and had his media pass taken away; and the top security official kicked out the few members of the public observing in the gallery and barred others from entering...the GOP majority took the floor in force an hour later, determined to pass the map. Hinson stood at the center of the floor, on the seal, while Nixon and McCurdy sat beside her. Nixon shouted: "When Black votes are under attack, what do we do?" "Stand up, fight back!" McCurdy shouted back. The two engaged in the call-and-response chant, drowning out Sprowls' voice on the speaker system as he tried to talk about decorum.
But Republicans could hear him enough, and when he called for a vote, the map easily passed, and the Republican majority erupted in loud applause, drowning out McCurdy and Nixon. The speaker then took up legislation to change The Walt Disney Co.'s special self-governing statute. Nixon and McCurdy kept chanting while Republicans voted again and won, applauding once again, and the session came to a close."
Again, this was all done at the insistence of DeSantis to eliminate a black-majority US House district that even the GOP Florida legislature wasn't going to eliminate. If this keeps up Florida should just be nicknamed Little Hungary.
Link to NBC News article:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-d...170022770.html