U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel has officially shifted her candidacy to Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. While that’s a new number, the jurisdiction under a new congressional map approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis this week overlaps significantly with her constituency since 2022.
The West Palm Beach Democrat filed papers with the Federal Election Commission redesignating where she is running.
Under the new cartography, CD 23 covers much of coastal Palm Beach County from West Palm Beach south to Delray Beach. It reaches inland to State Road 7 at its most western edge.
Frankel, since 2022, represented a configuration of Florida’s 22nd Congressional District that covered much of the same coastal area. But it also reached west to Wellington and was shaped around several predominantly Black communities included in the prior makeup of Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
DeSantis’ map, which the Legislature approved unchanged in a Special Session last week, created significant uncertainty in South Florida’s congressional delegation. While that region currently has five Democratic U.S. Representatives, the majority of all Democrats in Florida’s congressional delegation, the redistricting leaves only three South Florida seats where a majority of voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris for President.
Technically, Frankel’s redesignation places her in the same race now as U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat. However, Moskowitz represented a version of CD 23 that has largely been dismantled. He has signaled that he most likely will seek re-election in Florida’s 25th Congressional District, a narrow coastal seat that runs from Boca Raton south to Miami Beach.
Frankel ends up in one of the few left-leaning seats. Under the new lines, more than 56% of CD 23 voters cast ballots for Harris in 2024, while less than 43% supported Republican Donald Trump. That’s actually an improvement in partisan lean for Frankel; just over 52% of voters in the previous CD 22 supported Trump in the last presidential election.
Frankel can transfer her campaign account, which by the end of March contained more than $1.46 million. The designation should also temper rumors the 77-year-old might retire from Congress this cycle.
Frankel had faced eight challengers for her old seat, seven of them Republicans. None have yet filed paperwork to reorient their respective campaigns. They have until June 12 to decide where to qualify.
Of note, Republican Lateresa Jones has shifted her candidacy from the old CD 20 to the new CD 22.
