Every time the word “redistricting” comes up, people act like someone just pulled a fire alarm. You’d think Governor Ron DeSantis announced he was canceling elections altogether instead of doing something states are legally allowed — and sometimes required — to do.

Here’s what’s actually happening, stripped of the hysteria.

Florida has changed. A lot. In just the last few years, millions of people have moved into the state. They didn’t spread themselves evenly. They piled into Central Florida, the Gulf Coast, Southwest Florida — places that barely resemble what they were when the current congressional map was drawn.

And yet the districts still reflect a population that doesn’t exist anymore.

That’s the problem DeSantis is trying to solve.

He’s calling a special legislative session to redraw congressional lines so representation actually matches where people live now. That’s not radical. That’s the whole point of having districts in the first place.

On top of that, there’s a legal issue coming down the tracks whether people like it or not. The Supreme Court is expected to clarify how much race can be used when drawing districts under the Voting Rights Act. Florida’s current map — like maps in many states — was drawn with race as a major factor. If the Court says that practice goes too far, Florida’s map could be ruled unconstitutional.

At that point, the state would be forced to redraw it anyway — likely under court pressure, on a rushed timeline, right before an election.

DeSantis is saying: let’s not do it that way.

Instead of waiting for judges to drop a ruling and scrambling at the last minute, he wants the legislature to take this on now, deliberately, with time to get it right and time for election officials to adjust before 2026.

That’s what competent planning looks like.

Of course, critics immediately scream “gerrymandering.” They always do. But here’s the part they skip over: redistricting doesn’t magically become corruption just because it happens outside a ten-year census window. States redraw maps mid-decade all the time when population shifts or legal standards change.

And yes, Republicans may gain seats if the map reflects current voter distribution. But that’s not cheating — that’s math. If more people move to Florida, and those people vote a certain way, representation is supposed to reflect that reality. District lines aren’t meant to freeze politics in place to protect one party from losing ground.

The real complaint isn’t about fairness. It’s about control.

Some people are furious because Florida is no longer the state they thought they had locked down. They’d rather delay, litigate, and stall until the clock runs out and the old map survives by default. That’s not principle. That’s avoidance.

DeSantis is cutting through that by putting the issue on the table now. He’s saying: population changed, the law may be changing, and pretending otherwise just kicks the problem down the road.

Will the legislature have to be careful? Absolutely. Florida’s Fair Districts rules still apply. Courts will review the maps. That’s fine. Draw them clean, defend them, and let voters decide.

What bothers the usual political class is that DeSantis isn’t asking permission to do his job. He’s not dressing this up in emotional language or pretending it’s something it isn’t. He’s treating redistricting like infrastructure — something you maintain so the system doesn’t crack later.

Florida didn’t stop growing just because it’s inconvenient for one party. Representation has to keep up.

This isn’t some dramatic power play. It’s maintenance. And the fact that it’s causing this much outrage says more about how unserious modern politics has become than it does about Ron DeSantis.

If this is what “controversial” looks like now, then maybe the real scandal is how long everyone else has been pretending the problem didn’t exist.

Photo Credit: Florida Capitol (Ines Hegedus-Garcia)