Hakeem Jeffries just helped Democrats gerrymander Virginia into a 10-1 congressional map.
Then he pointed at Florida and threatened Ron DeSantis.
What DeSantis said back is going to haunt him.
The Virginia Redistricting Win Jeffries Is Not Being Honest About
Virginia Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger once said gerrymandering is "detrimental to our democracy."
She signed Virginia's gerrymander anyway.
The map Virginia voters approved Tuesday is one of the most lopsided of the entire 2026 cycle.
Democrats hold six of the state's eleven House seats today. The new map hands them an advantage in ten of those eleven districts – a party that won the state's presidential vote by six points in 2024 is about to control 91% of the congressional delegation.
Virginia Democrats also dismantled the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission – one voters approved in 2020 with 66% support – to make it happen. Jeffries campaigned for it. Obama cut ads for it. They called it democracy.
A Virginia judge blocked the map within hours of Tuesday's vote. Democrats are appealing. The legal fight is just beginning – and Jeffries turned around and threatened Florida like he'd already won something.
DeSantis Fires Back on Florida Redistricting and Jeffries Has No Answer
"Our message to Florida Republicans is F around and find out," Jeffries said. "If they go down the road of a DeSantis dummy-mander… the electoral tide is turning in Florida."
DeSantis was ready.
"Please. Be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida to campaign," DeSantis said. "I'll put you up in the Florida governor's mansion. We will take you fishing."
Then the governor kept going.
"There's nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries everywhere around this state. Voters will not like what they see."
That's a governor who recognized exactly what Jeffries showing up in Florida does to Republican turnout.
Jeffries pointed to Texas as proof Florida Republicans should back down.
"The Florida Republicans are going to find themselves in the same situation as Texas Republicans who are on the run right now," Jeffries said. "Under no circumstances are Texas Republicans picking up five seats."
The Supreme Court already cleared Texas to use its new map in 2026. Republicans drew the lines. Democrats spent two weeks fleeing the state to block a vote. They failed.
Florida Already Has 20 Seats and DeSantis Is After More
Republicans hold 20 of Florida's 28 congressional seats.
DeSantis called a special session running to push that number higher. Republicans are targeting three to five additional seats – enough to neutralize Democratic gains in Virginia on their own.
Florida has a harder road. The state constitution bans drawing districts "with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent." Democrats are already pointing to that language.
But the Florida Supreme Court upheld DeSantis's 2022 map last July, ruling the state constitution did not require maintaining a majority-Black district.
DeSantis timed this session deliberately – waiting for the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a Voting Rights Act case that could eliminate the legal basis protecting several Democratic incumbents in minority-heavy districts.
DeSantis has the runway, and eight Democratic seats to work with.
What he doesn't have is a reason to be nervous about Hakeem Jeffries.
How the 2026 Midterms House Control Fight Just Shifted to Florida
Republicans entered this fight with a 218-213 House majority and Trump in the White House pushing state legislatures to move.
Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio drew new Republican maps. California and Virginia answered with Democratic ones. With Tuesday's Virginia result, Democrats have now drawn roughly ten seats in their favor nationally against Republicans' nine – a near wash that leaves Florida as the decisive remaining piece.
Jeffries celebrated Virginia Tuesday night like he'd won the war.
He hasn't. Four seats – maybe – on a map a judge already blocked, in a state where Democrats tore up their own bipartisan commission to get there.
Florida has eight Democrat-held seats, a Republican trifecta, a governor who has already beaten the courts once, and a Supreme Court case that could gut the legal protection keeping those seats alive.
Jeffries threatened the wrong guy in the wrong state at the wrong moment.
DeSantis already knew it. That's why he offered to pay for the plane ticket.
Sources:
- Leo Briceno, "DeSantis says he's taking up Jeffries' invitation to 'F around and find out' on Florida redistricting effort," Fox News, April 22, 2026.
- "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Special Legislative Session on Congressional Redistricting," Executive Office of the Governor of Florida, January 7, 2026.
- "Virginia voters approve Democrats' redistricting plan, giving the party a midterm election boost," NBC News, April 21, 2026.
- "Virginia voters approve a map giving Democrats a chance at four more House seats," CNN Politics, April 21, 2026.
- "Redistricting in Florida ahead of the 2026 elections," Ballotpedia, accessed April 23, 2026.
- "After Texas ruling, Trump and Republicans head to 2026 with a redistricting edge," NPR, December 8, 2025.