New redistricting map PHOTO COURTESY OF ACLU OF FLORIDA

MIAMI, Fla. – City of Miami commissioners approved a new political map after a federal judge threw out the original redistricting plan, accusing the city of racial gerrymandering.

Judge K. Michael Moore ruled in favor of the ACLU and a coalition of voting rights activists who filed the lawsuit against the city for violating the Fourteenth Amendment.

Moore ordered city officials to go back to the drawing board and draw up a map that’s consistent with the Constitution, but the plaintiffs in the lawsuit disagreed with the new map and threatened to file a formal objection.

The city will present the map to the court for approval.

The plaintiffs, the ACLU, Engage Miami and Grove Rights and Community Equity (GRACE), submitted several district maps for commissioners to consider including splitting up Overtown and Little Havana and packing the populations into districts with more conservative constituents and certain party affiliations.

One proposed map removed the entire Overtown community from Commission Chairwoman Christine King’s District 5 and placed the historic Black community in Alex Diaz de la Portilla District 1, where most residents are Hispanics.

City of Miami elections are nonpartisan but the proposals from the plaintiffs suggested they could balance out conservative and liberal voters in those districts.

Nevertheless, city officials shot down their proposals and instead selected a map that kept most areas in the commissioners’ districts intact.

King’s District 5, which covers Liberty City, Overtown, Midtown and Edgewater, stays the same.

She opposed splitting up her district when she’s currently championing affordable housing programs and public transit improvements, and the areas have economic potential including business developments.

In another proposed map, Morningside was added to King’s district but she voted it down.

"I don’t think Morningside should be in my district because that’s splitting up the neighborhood," King said at the special meeting. "Not that I don’t like Morningside, it’s next to my district. But it’s splitting the district."

Commissioner Sabina Covo, whose District 1 includes Coconut Grove, Brickell, Downtown Miami and Virginia Key, added Morningside to her district with the new map.

But she didn’t get to reunite the entire Coconut Grove community in her district.

The Grove was at the center of the lawsuit after commissioners approved the map in 2022 which split the community into three districts.

With the new map, the Bahamian Grove goes back to District 2 but the other section of the community stays in Commissioner’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla District 1.

Redistricting consultant Miguel De Grandy said placing the entire Coconut Grove community back in the district would violate the Constitution because

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Covo was the only no vote for the map commissioners selected for the court’s approval. "That’s a priority for my constituents," she said.

Vice Commission Chair Joe Carollo’s Coconut Grove property stays in his District 3 under the new map.

He would have had to move out of his house to keep his seat if the Grove was put back into District 2.

Alexandra Contreras, a plaintiff in the racial gerrymandering suit, said the new map is a disappointment.

"We are beyond disappointed in the Commission’s actions today," she said in a statement. "They are clearly not interested in listening to residents across the city who demand fair maps that unite neighborhoods, not divide us along racial lines. We will continue fighting for fair representation for all Miami."

A new map must be approved ahead of the November 7 election when three seats are up for grabs. Covo, Diaz de la Portilla and Manolo Reyes face reelection.

But the home of Miguel Angel Gabela, who filed paperwork to challenge Diaz de la Portilla for a second time, was moved from District 1 to District 3.

Gabela, who finished second in the 2019 election, told commissioners at the special meeting that he has been campaigning for months and threatened legal action if his home is not placed back into District 1. “You don’t need any more lawsuits in the city of Miami,’ Gabela said. "Please don’t do this to me. And don’t make me go out and get myself an attorney and have to sue the city because I don’t want to do this."