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United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2012


The 2012 United States House of Representatives Elections in Florida were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 to elect the twenty-seven Congressional representatives from the state, one from each of the state's twenty-seven Congressional Districts, a two-seat increase due to the 2010 United States Census. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election, and a U.S. Senate election. The primary elections were held August 14, 2012.

In November 2010, Florida voters passed two amendments to the Florida Constitution which would require Congressional and state legislative Districts to be compact and follow geographical boundaries, thereby preventing gerrymandering. Shortly after the amendments were passed U.S. Representatives Corrine Brown and Mario Diaz-Balart filed a lawsuit asking that the amendment concerning Congressional Districts be declared invalid. Brown and Diaz-Balart alleged that the power to change rules for congressional redistricting lies exclusively with the state legislature, and as such cannot be changed through a referendum; however in January 2012 a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their arguments.

Redistricting legislation which would create one new district each in North Florida and Central Florida was passed by a committee of the Florida House of Representatives on January 27, by the full House of Representatives on February 3, and by the Florida Senate on February 9. Shortly after, the Florida Democratic Party announced it would file a lawsuit, alleging that the map violated the Fair Districts provision, which requires that maps do not intentionally favor parties or incumbents. Separately, a coalition of groups including Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and the National Council of La Raza announced it would file its own challenge on the legislation's being signed into law.


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