A Failure in Fairness

Under The Hood

As Florida voters get ready to elect representatives for the next Congress, few enjoy much of a decision. Out of 27 House races being decided November 8 by Sunshine State voters, only three of four (depending how generous you choose to be to endangered Tampa Rep. David Jolly) contests appear to even be close. That’s pathetic, especially as candidates run with a court-approved map drawn to offer the most level playing field ever.

It’s now abundantly clear. The Fair Districts amendment passed in 2010 is an abject failure.

Yes, Democrats cooed when courts ruled—rightly—that a map approved by the Florida Legislature favored Republicans. (Well, most Democrats did, more on that later.) And the new map likely will mean more Democrats from Florida in the House next year, and for those who want to do their part to wrest the gavel from Speaker Paul Ryan’s hands, that’s good news. Yet, most Democrats in Florida live, as they have for a quarter century now, in either districts where Democrats surely win every November or ones where they have no chance at all. The same goes for Republicans. In either case, the representative serving them in Washington face far more incentive to listen to leadership in DC than voters at home.

Take the Jolly race. The Republican in early 2014 first won office in a special election—the most expensive Congressional race in history—against former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink. The closely split district was viewed at the federal level as a bellweather for the mid-terms. But no matter how much outside interest existed, the race came down to voters here, and Jolly honed a message to reach as wide a swath of them as possible. After he was sworn in, he governed as a moderate and avoided a challenge later that same year.

But courts decided his election helped prove the map favored the GOP. Under new lines, Obama would have carried Jolly’s district with 55 percent of the vote. Now Jolly runs with almost no Washington support, and analysts widely expect him to lose to Democrat Charlie Crist.

But some Democratic incumbents also suffer under this map. Panhandle Rep. Gwen Graham, another moderate, balked at new lines. She will sit this cycle out, practically ceding her seat to the GOP, while gearing up for a gubernatorial run in 2018.

But incumbents who weren’t drawn into defeat now have more one-sided races. Closer to home, Sarasota Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican elected in one of the nation’s closest House contests in 2006, looks unbeatable this year. And Tom Rooney, the representative for south Sarasota County, also raises little concern. No disrespect to respective Democratic challengers Jan Schneider and April Freeman, but the Gulf Coast doesn’t look to be in play in the House contests, even though Sarasota County has been a hard-fought battleground zone (if still slightly right-leaning) in the last presidential, gubernatorial and Senate contests.

Most voters don’t pay attention to primaries, where an increasing number of House races get decided. Those who do represent the most ideologically strident. Pundits often critique moderates for voter apathy, but there’s little reason to watch House contests where your vote won’t matter.

A true map of “fair districts” would not simply divide Florida between safe Democrat and Republican seats. It would value voters over parties and empower constituents with a say on representation. That means holding contests each November where competitions occur. That didn’t happen this year, and a new map won’t be drawn until 2020. By then, we need better accountability on drafters than Fair Districts alone provides.

Jacob Ogles is senior editor of SRQ Media Group.

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