The Florida Senate and Secretary of State Cord Byrd are pushing back against a lawsuit alleging racial gerrymandering in the state’s 2022 redistricting plan.
The lawsuit, filed in April, challenges the configuration of two Tampa Bay-area Senate districts – District 16 and District 18. Plaintiffs argue that the plan intentionally packed Black voters into District 16, diminishing their influence in neighboring District 18.
They claim this violated equal protection rights and ignored natural communities of interest…