David Jolly: Every state should create an independent redistricting commission

LAKELAND — With the Democrats apparently following the GOP in weaponizing congressional redistricting for political advantage, Florida Democrat David Jolly hopes that eventually independent commissions will draw districts nationally.

On the road in Polk County, a red jurisdiction that voted for Donald Trump by more than 20 points last November, the former Republican U.S. representative-turned Democratic candidate for governor fielded questions following a 20-minute address to around 100 people at the historic Polk Theatre in downtown Lakeland.

The first came from an angry young Democratic voter who wanted to know what should happen about Texas Republicans’ proposed mid-term redistricting map that could add five more seats for the GOP in Congress.

Perhaps not surprisingly for a man who was a political independent for the past seven years and worked to create a third national political party, Jolly replied that he wishes there were independent redistricting commissions in all 50 states.

“I do think that what we’re seeing right now is something that is unprecedented in doing this mid-decade, and it is done because the politics have changed, frankly, because of the direction of the president of the United States, and it’s wrong,” he said.

Jolly noted how Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the congressional redistricting map presented to him by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2022 and instead created a new map that added four Republican seats to the state’s congressional delegation, costing Blacks two seats but giving Republicans a 20-8 advantage.

Despite complaints that it was illegal, his map recently was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.

“I can tell you what we need in Florida is to throw out Ron DeSantis’ maps and end gerrymandering in the state of Florida,” he said.

Jolly acknowledged that what Texas is doing has compelled Democratic governors to push back with their own plans to redistrict, and said he understands that.

“I wouldn’t suggest California or New York on what to do,” he said. “I think that this is now nuclear, and the blue states need to do what the red seats are doing to try to save democracy. I get that. But at the end of this battle, it needs to be that we arrive at independent redistricting commissions.”

Nine states have commissions with the primary responsibility of drawing congressional districts, while two others use hybrid systems in which the legislatures share redistricting authority with commissions, according to Ballotpedia.

Immigration

Jolly touched on a variety of other topics in Lakeland, including immigration. He chastised Republicans for placing so much emphasis on undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds, although ICE sweeps are netting plenty of people without records. (According to TRAC Information, 71% of those held in ICE detention had no criminal convictions as of July 27).

“Too many Republican leaders have gotten away over the last decade conflating immigration and crime,” he said. “It is untrue. It is statistically wrong. There’s a higher propensity of violent crimes among native-born citizens than there are of immigrants, by a factor of two-to-one in many jurisdictions. There’s a higher rate of three-to-one for property crimes. Those are the stats.”

Numerous studies have shown that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans. Those include reports published over the past year by the American Immigration Council, the Cato Institute,  and the Migration Policy Institute.

The hostile atmosphere in Florida echoes 1980, when the Mariel boatlift brought more than 125,000 Cubans to South Florida, Jolly said.

“My father was pastoring a small church in Miami — a traditional English Christian Baptist church,” he said. “The Mariel boatlift happens and six months later we’ve got bilingual services going all week long.

“But Miami didn’t know what to do with all of the immigrants. Jimmy Carter didn’t know what to do with all of the immigrants. There was a real debate around it,” he continued, noting that the Orange Bowl was used to provide temporary shelter for those refugees.

He referred to comments at the time by Maurice Ferré, then the mayor of Miami, that he would welcome refugees to Florida, and that if the country didn’t embrace them “we might as well get rid of the Statue of Liberty.”

“That’s exactly where we are right now,” Jolly said.

Pre-emption

Kim-Marie Noble, a candidate for Lakeland City Commission, decried the high cost of rental housing in her community. She specifically chided the Legislature’s vote in 2023 that banned local governments from enacting rent control under the Live Local Act, and asked Jolly what he could do if elected to address the problem.

He said he would push for return to local control.

“Do away with pre-emption out of Tallahassee,” he said. “That means that the local municipality should set rules. Home rules. Remember the old-time principle — government closest to the people is best? Yeah, well, Republicans in Tallahassee only agree with that in red communities, not blue communities. So return to home rule and allow a jurisdiction like Lakeland or Polk County, if they choose to, to pass whatever ordinances they want.”

Potential candidates

More than a year before Florida’s primary elections, Jolly’s status as only major Democrat in the race likely to change in the next few months. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and former North Florida U.S. Rep. Al Lawson within the past week mentioned interest in getting into the contest.

On the GOP side, Byron Donalds remains the only major candidate. The Southwest Florida, Trump-endorsed U.S. representative has raised more than $20 million so far, dwarfing Jolly’s $1 million raised at the end of June.

In an interview with this reporter on WMNF radio on July 25, Jolly played  down the discrepancy, noting that Donalds’ money came from just three sources (including a $5 million contribution from billionaire Jeff Yass).

“He’s Trump’s hand-picked candidate in the home state of MAGA, a state where everyone believes Republicans have a generational lock,” Jolly said. “So, the fact that we got in and excited donors from all 50 states … I feel very good about the energy behind this, and I’m not going to play the money expectations game this year. Money will follow the polls.”