In representative electoral systems, gerrymandering is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries to advantage a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The manipulation may involve "cracking" or "packing". Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents. Wayne Dawkins, a professor at Morgan State University, describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.
Corrine Brown is an American former politician and convicted felon who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida from 1993 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. After a court-ordered redistricting significantly changed her district and a federal felony conviction for corruption, Brown was defeated in the 2016 Democratic primary by Al Lawson, who went on to win Brown's former seat.
Florida's 13th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress on Florida's Gulf Coast, assigned to Pinellas County. The district includes Largo, Clearwater, and Palm Harbor. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, most of St. Petersburg facing Tampa Bay was redistricted into the 14th district, while the rest of Pinellas County formerly in the 12th district became included in the 13th district.
Florida's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Florida. It includes the southeastern area of Jacksonville which comprises areas such as Arlington, East Arlington, Southside, Mandarin, San Jose, and the Beaches. It stretches south to St. Augustine in St. Johns County.
Florida is divided into 28 congressional districts, each represented by a member of the United States House of Representatives. After the 2020 census, the number of Florida's seats was increased from 27 to 28, due to the state's increase in population, and subsequent reapportionment in 2022.
Electoral reform in California refers to efforts to change election and voting laws in the U.S. state of California.
Daniel Alan Webster is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 11th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he first entered Congress in 2011. He represented Florida's 10th congressional district from 2011 to 2017. Before his congressional service, he served 28 years in the Florida legislature. He was the first Republican Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives since Reconstruction.
Darren Michael Soto is an American attorney and Southern Democratic politician from Kissimmee, Florida, who is the U.S. representative for Florida's 9th district.
Andy Gardiner is a Republican politician who served as a member of the Florida Senate, representing the 9th District from 2008 to 2012, and the 13th District, which stretches from Orlando to Titusville, from 2012 to 2016. From 2014 to 2016, Gardiner served as the President of the Florida Senate. Prior to Gardiner's election to the Senate, he served in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 40th District from 2000 to 2008.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Florida were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the twenty-seven congressional representatives from the state, one from each of the state's twenty-seven congressional districts, a two-seat increase due to the 2010 United States census. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election, and a U.S. Senate election. The primary elections were held August 14, 2012.
Valdez Venita Demings is an American politician and former police officer who served as U.S. representative for Florida's 10th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. The district covered most of the western half of Orlando and includes much of the area around Orlando's resort parks. It includes many of Orlando's western suburbs, including Apopka and Winter Garden. From 2007 to 2011, Demings served as the first female chief of the Orlando Police Department, closing a 27-year career in law enforcement. She has also been first lady of Orange County, Florida, since December 4, 2018, when her husband Jerry Demings was sworn in as County Mayor.
Gerrymandering is the practice of setting boundaries of electoral districts to favor specific political interests within legislative bodies, often resulting in districts with convoluted, winding boundaries rather than compact areas. The term "gerrymandering" was coined after a review of Massachusetts's redistricting maps of 1812 set by Governor Elbridge Gerry noted that one of the districts looked like a mythical salamander.
Deirdre Macnab is an American women's rights and voting rights activist and sustainable agriculture rancher. She is former president of the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL) and member of Florida's Federal Judicial Nominating Commission. She served as a Knight's Fellow-in-Residence at the University of Florida Bob Graham Center for Public Service and is a solar energy activist in Florida, acting as chairperson for LWVFL solar energy initiative, and in Colorado, where she is on the Solar United Neighbors advisory board.
RepresentUs is a nonpartisan not-for-profit organization focused on ending political corruption in the United States. Funded by donations and grants, it is run mostly by volunteers aligned in a grassroots organizing network, and it has brought in high-profile celebrities to advance its message. It advertises, produces videos, and generates publicity with speeches and demonstrations and protests.
African Americans were fully enfranchised in practice throughout the United States by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Prior to the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, some Black people in the United States had the right to vote, but this right was often abridged or taken away. After 1870, Black people were theoretically equal before the law, but in the period between the end of Reconstruction era and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 this was frequently infringed in practice.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of North Carolina on November 3, 2020.
The first women's suffrage effort in Florida was led by Ella C. Chamberlain in the early 1890s. Chamberlain began writing a women's suffrage news column, started a mixed-gender women's suffrage group and organized conventions in Florida.
This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Florida. Ella C. Chamberlain began women's suffrage efforts in Florida starting in 1892. However, after Chamberlain leaves the state in 1897, suffrage work largely ceases until the next century. More women's suffrage groups are organized, with the first in the twentieth century being the Equal Franchise League in Jacksonville, Florida in 1912. Additional groups are created around Florida, including a Men's Equal Suffrage League of Florida. Suffragists lobby the Florida Legislature for equal suffrage, hold conventions, and educate voters. Several cities in Florida pass laws allowing women to vote in municipal elections, with Fellsmere being the first in 1915. Zena Dreier becomes the first woman to legally cast a vote in the South on June 19, 1915. On May 26, 1919, women in Orlando vote for the first time. After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Helen Hunt West becomes the first woman in Florida to register to vote under equal franchise rules on September 7, 1920. Florida does not ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until May 13, 1969.
The 2022 elections for the Florida State Senate took place on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, to elect state senators from all 40 districts. Although on ordinary years, 20 senators are elected at a time on a staggered basis, races following redistricting elect all 40 members to ensure that each member represents an equal number of constituents. The Republican Party expanded their Senate majority from 24 to 28, gaining a supermajority in the Senate. The concurrently held House elections also resulted in a supermajority, giving Republicans supermajority control of the legislature.
Government 