Drawing sets timetable for elections in new Florida Senate districts

Manatee is now in Senate District 21

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Senate renumbered all 40 of its districts Tuesday to comply with a judge's order and, in so doing, gave candidates and voters an idea of what to expect on upcoming ballots.

The Senate enlisted the State Auditor General's Office to randomly sort the 40 districts into two groups of 20 even- and 20 odd-numbered districts. The districts had been given temporary numbers on a map drawn by the League of Women Voters and approved by Circuit Judge George Reynolds III.

In the Senate's largest committee room, normally used for budget meetings, staff members assigned new numbers to all 40 districts, which will be in place until the next redistricting in 2022.

Legal action is not yet final. The Senate has 30 days to seek a rehearing before Reynolds or to appeal his decision to the Florida Supreme Court. The Legislature has faced one legal defeat after another as a result of a redistricting process the courts have repeatedly ruled was tainted by violations of antigerrymandering provisions in the Constitution.

For now, the new District 21 is made up of all of Manatee County and a large portion of Hillsborough. The incumbent in the new district is state Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.

Sarasota County and western Charlotte County are in a new District 23.

Incumbent state Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, is leaving the Senate to run for Sarasota County Commission. State Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, has said he plans to run for the seat in 2016.

All Senate seats will be up for a vote in 2016, but because Manatee and Sarasota are in odd-numbered districts, those seats will not be up for a vote after that until 2020.

Even-numbered districts will be up for a vote again in 2018.

Even before the long redistricting controversy led to Tuesday's renumbering, the Senate was entering an unusually turbulent period with up to 14 of its 40 members either forced out of office by term limits or leaving to run for other public offices.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Drawing sets timetable for elections in new Florida Senate districts ."