Jack Latvala's Map Could End Gardiner-Simmons Match-up

The potential for Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, to end up in the same district with Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, may not come to be if a proposal Monday from Sen. Jack Latvala goes forward.

Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, has submitted an amendment that would revert some of the changes to the Central Florida region, shifting many of the Orange County voters, from the map proposed Saturday by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

The changes proposed by Gaetz were in response to the state Supreme Court ruling March 9 that eight of the 40 Senate districts for the once-a-decade redistricting were invalid.

The Senate Reapportionment Committee will begin to review the Gaetz map and the amendments to that map Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Gaetz, who heads the Senate Reapportionment Committee, released a map Saturday that he said would be more in compliance with the ruling of the state Supreme Court.

The map rejected by the court on March 9 had no sitting incumbent facing the prospects of having to challenge another senator in the fall.

Under the Gaetz map, Gardiner would be in the same district with Simmons.

Simmons has said if the Gaetz map is approved, he would simply move to the Seminole-based Senate district that he has represented for more than a decade.