Commission Chairwoman Christine King, left, is the only Black on the commission serving alongside Vice Chair Joe Carollo, and Commissioners Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Sabina Covo and Manolo Reyes who are Hispanics. PHOTOS COURTESY OF VOTECHRISTINEKING.COM AND FLORIDAPOLITICS.COM AND TWITTER

MIAMI, Fla. – After a federal judge forced the City of Miami to redraw its political map city leaders approved in 2022, calling it racial gerrymandering. Among the proposed suggestions for redistricting includes reverting back to at-large City Commission districts.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ordered Miami to redraw its district boundaries ahead of the November 7, 2023 election when three seats are up for grabs.

But at-large districts could put the only Black seat on the City Commission in peril, possibly the board constituting all Hispanics and White commissioners.

Commission Chairwoman Christine King is the only Black on the commission serving alongside Vice Chair Joe Carollo, and Commissioners Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Sabina Covo and Manolo Reyes who are Hispanics.

King’s District 5 covers areas including Liberty City, Overtown and Edgewater, where voters can only cast their ballots for candidates running for the district.

However, with at large-districts, any candidate living in the City of Miami boundaries can run for King’s seat when she’s up for reelection in two years.

Seventy-four percent of Miami’s population is Hispanic, according to the 2020 U.S. Census report.

Coconut Grove, where Bahamians settled before Miami was incorporated in 1896, was at the center of the lawsuit which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a coalition of voting rights groups, Coconut Grove residents and the NAACP.

Miami redrew its district boundaries last year to reflect the decennial U.S. Census but split Coconut Grove in three districts with the Black West Grove placed in a Hispanic dominated area, weakening the Black vote.

For years, all of Coconut Grove was in District 2 before the political map changed but the community is represented by three commissioners, Covo (District 2) Carollo (District 3) and Diaz de la Portilla (District 1).

Amending the political map is pressuring ahead of November’s election, as some candidates have already filed paperwork to run for the seats held by Diaz de la Portilla, Covo and Reyes.

Their districts cover neighborhoods including Allapattah, Brickell, Coconut Grove, downtown Miami and Flagami.

Diaz de la Portilla suggested going back to at-large districts for the first time since 1997 when voters citywide choose a candidate for each district rather than the current district-based election.

“Let’s be honest. We’ll probably elect five Hispanic Commissioners, and if people think that’s good for the city of Miami, so be it,” he said at a meeting last month. “Who’s going to argue with that? Because the people decided.”

But Reyes disagreed, saying the City Commission needs diversity.

“The only race that we’re going to bring to this equation, I’m going to tell you what it is," he said. "We have to keep diversity on this dais, and that’s why we have districts,” he said. “We have to say and do everything that is needed to make sure that there is diversity in this dais. If not, let’s do away with the districts, then … we will have five Hispanics right here, since we are 70 percent of the population. And in order to avoid that, the districts were created.”

King couldn’t be reached for comments.

The City of Miami changed to singlemember districts in 1997 to help put at least one Black commissioner in City Hall to represent the Black voice.

At the time, then-mayor Carollo and four commissioners were Hispanics and one White commissioner served on the dais that spurred the change for single-member districts.

Since, the City Commission always had one Black commissioner from Arthur Teele Jr., Michelle Spence Jones, M. Athalie Range, Miller Dawkins, Richard P. Dunn II, Jeff Allan, Keon Hardemon, who’s now a MiamiDade County Commissioner, Jeffrey Watson, who was appointed, and King.

After City Commissioners approved the new political map, Moore’s opinion reflected the report Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis filed May 3 citing “substantial evidence that the Commission Districts are racial gerrymanders in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment,” which among other things provides all citizens with equal protection under the law

“When the record is replete with evidence that legislators instructed a mapmaker to draw districts to comport with a ‘purposefully established racial target,’ as is the case here, the Court may properly conclude that race predominated,” Moore wrote in his order.

Attorneys for ACLU and other plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed during public meetings last year, commissioners focused on drawing a map that maintains the city governing body’s racial composition, which then included three Hispanic members, one Black member and a non-Hispanic White member.

"Our maps propose a new way forward, advancing representation and putting racial gerrymandering behind us. It’s time for the City Commission to follow the law, listen to the community, and fulfill its obligation to afford all Miami residents with fair representation," said Harold Ford, President of the South Dade Branch of the NAACP, in a statement.

Miami City Attorney Victoria Mendez said the city of Miami is disappointed with the Court’s decision.

"It is still our position that we complied with the Voting Rights Act," Mendez said in a statement. "We are reviewing options on how to best proceed. We have been ordered to mediation as well."

The City Commission has less than 30 days to redraw a new political map and vote on it before the November election.