Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry supports Gov. DeSantis's bid for redistricting opinion

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry stepped into the heated redistricting battle by joining  Gov. Ron DeSantis in asking the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on keeping a congressional district that stretches from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee.

Curry's filing Monday with the Supreme Court puts him at odds with U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, who lashed out at DeSantis last week for seeking an opinion on whether the 5th Congressional District must continue to link minority populations in Jacksonville and the Tallahassee area.

Lawson renewed his criticism Monday in response to briefs filed with the Supreme Court.

“Lenny Curry is a former state chairman of the Republican Party, so I’m not surprised that he needs to toe the party line," Lawson said.

He said DeSantis, a Republican is attempting to wipe out a seat held by a Democrat so Florida will have more Republicans in its congressional delegation.

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“Ron DeSantis is asking the Florida Supreme Court to remove their judicial robes and instead wear partisan jerseys to further his own political interests," Lawson said in a statement.

Curry submitted a brief Monday that said voters and political candidates deserve to know whether the lines of the district can withstand constitutional scrutiny.

"Jacksonville's citizens are not well served by potentially voting in a district with increased prospects of being tossed out as invalid after several years of post-election litigation, and they may be better served without a district stretching from one region of the state to another," Curry's brief says.

The state Legislature is in the process of creating a map of congressional districts based on the U.S. Census showing changes in Florida population over the past 10 years.

DeSantis has proposed a redistricting map that would dismantle the 5th Congressional District.

The 5th District covers a large chunk of northwest Jacksonville that is home to the city's biggest concentration of Black voters, then continues through rural counties to Leon County about 150 miles away from the Jacksonville side of the district.

In DeSantis's proposed redistricting, the part of Jacksonville that is in the 5th District would be redrawn in a new district that covers more of Jacksonville's Westside and extends to Nassau and Clay counties.

Curry is the only local elected official from within the 5th District who filed a brief with the Supreme Court by its noon Monday deadline.

Lawson said DeSantis is asking the Supreme Court to "preapprove a partisan, gerrymandered congressional map that is not even pending" before Legislature.

“The Florida Supreme Court must resist being pulled into partisan disputes as it would threaten its integrity and the very independence of the judicial branch," Lawson said.