Florida

Florida is the United States' third most populous state with approximately 22 million residents. Governed by Ron DeSantis (R), it holds 30 congressional seats and is a critical electoral battleground. Its large Cuban-American and wider Hispanic communities give it outsized weight in US-Cuba policy debates. Florida has been the base of the most vocally anti-Cuba bloc in Congress since the 1990s.

Florida is the focal point of the 2026 mid-decade redistricting wave. Governor Ron DeSantis called a special legislative session from 20 to 24 April 2026 to redraw congressional districts. DeSantis timed the session to await the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, then signed the resulting 24R-4D congressional map into law on 4 May 2026, four days after the Senate passed it 21-17 and the House 83-28. Sabato's Crystal Ball rated the map as shifting nine seats toward Republicans, erasing four Democratic incumbents. Hours after signature, plaintiffs filed the first legal challenge citing Florida's Fair Districts amendments (2010), the state constitutional ban on partisan gerrymanders adopted by referendum, which operate independently of the now-gutted federal VRA. The state-law challenge means Callais does not insulate the map from litigation; it simply removes the federal floor.

Florida's Cuban-American congressional delegation moved from pressure to credit-taking on Cuba policy through May 2026. The delegation's 11 February 2026 letter to OFAC demanding comprehensive revocation of Cuba-related licences received no Treasury response in 96 days. Yet on Executive Order 14404 (1 May), the delegation took the opposite tack: Rep. Carlos Giménez (FL-26) issued a press release backing the EO and stating sanctions are 'necessary to target the regime's security apparatus'. Mario Díaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar aligned publicly. The 7 May SDN listing of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera (the first individual designated under EO 14404, with the personal-relatives architecture authorising designations of named officials and their adult relatives) gave the delegation a concrete enforcement instrument to celebrate. The delegation has made no public statement on the 9 May Vatican humanitarian channel or the 10 April back-channel through Castro grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, suggesting selective alignment with the personal-sanctions track only.