In Florida’s 4th Congressional District, the upcoming Nov. 5 election is more than just a rematch between Republican incumbent Aaron Bean and Democratic challenger L.J. Holloway. It’s a test of Black political power in a district radically reshaped by controversial redistricting.
For the first time in three decades, Black voters in Jacksonville find themselves without a representative of their choosing despite comprising a significant portion of the electorate. The race mirrors the 2022 midterms when Bean defeated Holloway by 21 points, becoming the first Republican and first white congressman to represent the area since 1992.
A University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Laboratory poll published last week showed Bean leading Holloway by seven percentage points, a much narrower gap than Bean’s 2022 victory.
The redistricting, spearheaded by Gov. Ron DeSantis against initial opposition from the GOP-led Legislature, diluted the influence of Jacksonville’s Black voters when it expanded the district to include the whiter, more conservative Nassau and Clay counties.
“For the first time since the early 1990s, Black voters do not have a representation who looks like them despite there being enough Black votes in that area to elect the candidate of their choice,” said Genesis Robinson, the interim executive director of the Equal Ground Education Fund, a voting-rights organization and one of the plaintiffs in ongoing litigation on the issue.
Experts and community leaders say residents have already noticed the consequences of reduced Black electoral power. The new district also creates an uphill battle for candidates like Holloway and can dwindle voter confidence.
When it comes to redistricting, “Florida seems to be going backward,” said Michael Li, senior counsel in the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program. “It’s a determination to hold on to power regardless of what it takes.”
Duval County is largely a swing area, and if the maps were drawn fairly, Democrats would have a decent shot at winning, Li said. “Florida should in many ways be ground zero for a battle in the House and that just isn’t the case,” he added, attributing it to aggressive gerrymandering. “It’s remarkable that Florida has no competitive congressional districts.”
Across North Florida, there are no Black or Democratic congressional representatives.
Bean’s campaign has focused on what it calls “the border crisis.” His campaign also said, in a statement, that it was focused on empowering “families to make decisions for their future and not have overreach in government, especially at the federal level.”
In Congress, Bean has been a reliably conservative vote. Holloway has said she would act differently. She has called for more action on climate change and affordable health care.
Both candidates have said they would address the ever-increasing cost of living within the district. Bean’s campaign said he would do that by “reining in excessive spending and prioritizing cutting costs on everyday goods and housing.” Holloway has instead said she would focus on bringing in more money to develop affordable housing.
“We need fair living wages,” Holloway said. “We need to make sure everyone has a piece of the American dream.”
Beyond voting on federal policy, congressional offices also often act as a bridge between the community and government services. The Rev. Dr. R. L. Gundy, who pastors Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, said he wants a representative who will walk the streets with him to see the area’s roads and housing projects so that they can be better equipped to meet the needs of the people. That wish transcends political party designation and applies across the aisle despite his personal candidate and party preferences.
Without Black representation, it can make it harder to address the needs of the whole community, said Gundy. And, in addition, he said it decreases Black folks’ confidence in the election process as well as their motivation to turn out to the polls.
Black farmers who previously were represented by former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat who grew up in rural Gadsden County, have been split up across Florida’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Congressional Districts.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun paying farmers who can show they suffered from discriminatory lending practices.
Congressional representatives also have a platform to advocate for their voters.
After the 2023 racist mass shooting at a Jacksonville Dollar General, residents protested not only the violence but also the anti-woke political climate that had restricted the teaching of Black history.
Bean, who attended vigils for the victims of the killing, did not speak at the events.
“We need somebody who understands and who’s sensitive to our needs,” said Gundy.
Bean’s campaign said he was proud of his record. “It has truly been an honor to represent every constituent in our district, and I am proud of what we have accomplished for our community and how we have stood up for our region.”
The current 4th Congressional District includes all of Clay and Nassau counties and everywhere north and west of the St. Johns River in Duval. A decade ago, the Florida Supreme Court had ordered a district that it said protected Black voters’ ability to elect their preferred candidates. That previous district stretched from Jacksonville to Tallahassee.
After DeSantis pushed through the new version of the district, plaintiffs like Equal Ground Education Fund sued. The lawsuit is pending before the Florida Supreme Court. The case could determine whether protections for racial minorities infringe on the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection clause.
The district is home to over 70% of Duval County’s Black population, but that is diluted by the whiter suburbs of Clay and Nassau counties. It’s 34% Black. In 2010, 63% of Florida voters approved the Fair Districts Amendments, which prohibited favoring a political party and banned the state from diminishing racial minority groups’ ability to elect their preferred candidates.
Li said it would have been feasible to redraw the district to keep it wholly in Jacksonville, which could have set it up as a competitive district that was largely representative of its population.
In fact, the Legislature proposed such a district, but DeSantis vetoed the proposal. His version made both of Jacksonville’s districts predictably Republican. “It’s a textbook example of how if you slice and dice voters, you can distort,” said Li. “It is the loss of Black political power that was hard fought for.”
Holloway has called the redistricting unconstitutional. “It’s wholly unfair. People deserve representation. The city and the state are growing.”
Other community leaders share her sentiments. Gundy is another plaintiff suing the state, described the current set of maps as equivalent to “taxation without representation.”
He is 70 and has seen his share of election cycles. What’s unraveling now doesn’t feel new. “Florida has a history of voter suppression that goes way back. It’s deeply entrenched into what they do and how they do it.”
After Corrine Brown was elected, he said, it felt like his community was represented in Congress. Gundy, who is one of the plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit facing the state, is angry about the newest maps. “What we are dealing with now is an integrity issue,” he said. “It’s clearly political. It’s clearly unethical.”
