New Florida congressional map shakes up districts for Suncoast frontrunners

Three local Republican frontrunners in different congressional races will live in the same district under a new map drawn amid a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to expand the GOP’s advantage.

As part of the redistricting, incumbents Anna Paulina Luna and Greg Steube will be moved out of the districts they represent and into District 16, where newcomer Sydney Gruters is the favorite to emerge from the Republican primary. The boundaries of the massive new district now include St. Petersburg and stretch from the shores of Holmes Beach to outside Sebring in rural Central Florida.

But because federal law does not require congressional candidates to live in the district they represent, Luna and Steube can still seek office outside their home districts.

Steube confirmed to Suncoast Searchlight he will continue his campaign for reelection in District 17, which he has represented since 2019 and now cuts from Sarasota down to Fort Myers, southwest of Interstate-75.

“The new district boundaries include the overwhelming majority of the constituents I have had the honor of representing in both Congress and the state legislature over the past 10 years, and I look forward to continuing to serve them in the next Congress,” Steube said in a statement.

Luna, whose District 13 has shifted north and now includes Holiday and other towns near Palm Harbor — while leaving out St. Petersburg — declined to comment on the redistricting.

Both Luna and Steube will live in the revised District 16.

Despite the reshuffling, the new congressional map leaves the Suncoast’s deep Republican lean largely untouched. Manatee and Sarasota counties have not gone blue in a presidential race since the reelection of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1944, and both counties will remain ruby red.

But the boundaries now dilute Democratic votes from St. Petersburg by merging them with hundreds of thousands of Republican voters in Manatee and DeSoto counties.

Congressional redistricting battles — and accusations of gerrymandering — have escalated this year after President Donald Trump called for Republican-led states to redraw their maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. This sparked an arms race between red and blue states over which could give their party an edge by redrawing congressional lines.

Critics say the efforts erode representative democracy and conflict with the Fair Districts Amendments, overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2010, which prohibit districts from being drawn “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.”

Even before the new map, Florida had received an “F” grade from Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project for “Significant Republican advantage.”

GOP officials have said the new map reflects the dramatic rightward shift of the Florida electorate during the past decade, but it is far from proportional to voting trends. Although 58% of Floridians voted for a Republican in the 2024 congressional elections, under the updated map, about 86% of the state’s congressional delegation would be Republican.

The redistricting bill passed overwhelmingly in the Legislature on Wednesday along party lines, with support from each of the Suncoast’s representatives.

State Rep. Fiona McFarland (R-Sarasota) declined to comment. State Representatives James Buchanan (R-Sarasota) and Danny Nix (R-Port Charlotte) did not respond to requests for comment.

DeSantis is expected to sign the new map into law within days. It will almost certainly be challenged in court, where Florida Republicans seem confident they will prevail.

District 16 now spans six counties

The new District 16 now includes parts of six counties: Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Hardee and Polk.

Gruters, the Republican frontrunner, affirmed her intention to run in that district in a public statement Wednesday. An administrator at New College of Florida, she was endorsed by Trump in April.

“I have worked with families, seniors, veterans, small business owners, agricultural communities, and local leaders across this region,” Gruters said of her expansive new district.

Her husband, Joe Gruters, represents Sarasota as a state senator and is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was not present for the senate vote of the new map on Wednesday.

The district’s current representative, Vern Buchanan (R-Longboat Key), announced his intention to retire earlier this year after nearly two decades in office.

District 17 excludes Steube

Steube, who told Politico in March that “the Legislature needs to be very cognizant of the fact that if they get too aggressive … you could put incumbent members at risk,” has since changed his stance on the matter.

In an interview Tuesday with Newsmax, the congressman voiced support of the redistricting effort and expressed confidence in its ability to survive a challenge before the Florida Supreme Court, “which, oh, by the way, is a majority conservative,” he added.

Under the new map, Steube’s District 17 remains largely the same, continuing to cover coastal Sarasota County and Punta Gorda, while adding urban Fort Myers — except Steube himself would no longer live in it.

Steube’s federal statement of candidacy lists his address as a Postal Mart off Honore Avenue, but his most recent voter registration lists it as a 5-acre property near Old Miakka, which now is located in District 16.

District 13 sheds Democratic St. Pete

Luna was elected in 2022 to represent Florida’s 13th Congressional District.

The area still covers the bulk of Pinellas County — including communities like Clearwater and Largo. But the southern tip of the peninsula, which houses urban St. Petersburg — where Luna resides — has been carved out of the map. The borders instead shifted northward to just below New Port Richey.

Luna registered her address with the Federal Election Commission as a P.O. Box north of Winston Park, within her district. However, state voter records show her residence as being in St. Petersburg — just several blocks from her new district.

This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.