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Corrine Brown Sues Over Proposed Congressional Map

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown announces her federal lawsuit to block new district maps.
Catherine Welch
/
WMFE 90.5
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown announces her federal lawsuit to block new district maps.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown announces her federal lawsuit to block new district maps.
Credit Catherine Welch / WMFE 90.5
/
WMFE 90.5
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown announces her federal lawsuit to block new district maps.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown says state lawmakers will make it impossible for an African American to represent her district in Congress. Now Brown is suing to stop lawmakers from redrawing her district when they meet next week in Tallahassee to create new congressional maps.

Brown's district currently runs north to south linking parts of Jacksonville, Gainesville, and the Orlando area. A new map turns the district sideways, sending it west to Tallahassee. And that, Brown says, will prevent any African American from representing the 5th District.

“We aren’t talking about republicans or democrats, we’re talking about representative government. We need to make sure that we have an opportunity to elect candidates of our choice," she said Thursday in a press conference.

Brown's lawsuit in federal court attempts to block lawmakers from changing her district when they meet next week to draw new maps. They’re redoing the maps because the Florida Supreme Court threw out the current ones, ruling that they were politically influenced.

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Catherine Welch is news director at Rhode Island Public Radio. Before her move to Rhode Island in 2010, Catherine was news director at WHQR in Wilmington, NC. She was also news director at KBIA in Columbia, MO where she was a faculty member at the University Of Missouri School Of Journalism. Catherine has won several regional Edward R. Murrow awards and awards from the Public Radio News Directors Inc., New England AP, North Carolina Press Association, Missouri Press Association, and Missouri Broadcasters Association.
WMFE