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The Naples-to-Dade HD 105 may be "contorted by gerrymandering," but not how you might think. It's more contorted by the Voting Rights Act's now-dormant Section 5, anyway. A brief history... 1/x https://twitter.com/samanthajgross/status/1285211826427498496
2/x: Before the 90s, no districts crossed the Everglades. But in '92, the Democrats stretched Hialeah Rep. Luis Rojas' heavily GOP district to Naples to better pack GOP voters. (Allowing Dems to optimize the map elsewhere in the area.)
3/x: When the GOP controlled redistricting in 2002, they drew a brutal map to solidify control. BUT they didn't want to maintain the Hialeah-Naples district. This is the map they drew:
4/x: The GOP moved the Naples 'burbs in a new GOP-leaning seat stretching to SW Broward (the green HD101).
The snag: Collier (Naples) was a "covered" county under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Any district changes required preclearance from the DOJ.
The snag: Collier (Naples) was a "covered" county under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Any district changes required preclearance from the DOJ.
5/x: The Leg argued that Collier Hispanics (largely Democratic farmworkers) were too different from the Cuban GOP urbanites in Dade to affect the preclearance analysis.
The DOJ disagreed. Collier Hispanics needed to be in a majority-Hispanic district (bc fishing, or something)
The DOJ disagreed. Collier Hispanics needed to be in a majority-Hispanic district (bc fishing, or something)
6/x: So Speaker Tom Feeney quickly got this map approved. It maintained the Naples–Dade district.
BUT he also managed to keep that GOP-leaning Naples-Broward district right above it.
BUT he also managed to keep that GOP-leaning Naples-Broward district right above it.
7/x: The Naples-Dade district had some good times in the Aughts. Controversial Rep. Ralph Arza held it from 2000–02, then controversial Rep. David Rivera. Double whammy! https://www.ocala.com/news/20061102/republican-resigns-amid-racial-slur-scandal
8/x: That brings us to 2012. There was a desire to eliminate all the cross-peninsula districts. But the threat of the DOJ again denying preclearance loomed.
So the Leg did the best it could: it nixed the white Broward-Collier district, kept the Hispanic Dade-Collier one.
So the Leg did the best it could: it nixed the white Broward-Collier district, kept the Hispanic Dade-Collier one.
9/END: The DOJ silently precleared the map, and it was never challenged in court after the FL Supreme Court's automatic facial review.
SCOTUS dismantled the §5 preclearance regime in 2013, so it's possible HD105 could shrink to just Dade at the next redistricting.
SCOTUS dismantled the §5 preclearance regime in 2013, so it's possible HD105 could shrink to just Dade at the next redistricting.
Anyway, I enjoyed your article @samanthajgross !
(And btw: even the Fair Districts Coalition proposed a Naples-to-Dade district in 2012. Their version would have gone all the way to Hiealeah.)
