DeSantis Tells Hakeem Jeffries to ‘Make My Day’ Over Gerrymandering Retaliation Threat

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Friday dared House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to come to Florida and challenge his redistricting efforts.

On Tuesday, Jeffries praised the state of Virginia after its voters approved a new congressional map that would give the Democratic Party more seats in the House of Representatives. Virginia was just the latest in a growing list of states that have become targets of rare mid-decade redistricting efforts by both parties ahead of the midterms.

In his praise of Virginia, Jeffries also issued a threat to Florida as its lawmakers push to redraw the map in favor of Republicans. As noted in a report from The Hill, Jeffries said Democrats would “aggressively target” eight Florida seats and even called out the representatives by name.

Speaking at an event Friday afternoon, DeSantis claimed he was up to the challenge, saying:

We got this guy Hakeem Jeffries. Have you guys heard of him? I don’t know that he’d do very well in Chipley if he ran for office, but he’s threatening Florida. “Oh, you can’t do– you do the redistrict, we’re gonna come down, we’re gonna get you guys.” All this stuff. Go ahead. Make my day. Bring it on. I would like nothing better than to have him campaigning all across Florida. I don’t know that he would do well here, I don’t know that he would do well almost anywhere in Florida, and I don’t think that’s something that Floridians would want to see; but we are not gonna be cowed by threats from some machine politician from Brooklyn. It doesn’t work that way down here. That’s not how we roll, so I know the legislature’s ready to go. They’re gonna get the job done.

Republicans haven’t given up on Virginia yet. Shortly after voters approved the Democrat-backed map, a judge blocked the state from certifying the results. A legal battle between the parties will likely follow.

Watch above via C-SPAN

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