❌Partisan Power Grab - Action Alert, December 1, 2025

beachesactivistmov
Dec 1, 2025
3 min read

Join Us at Capitol Rally Thursday!

Stop the Partisan Power Grab

BAM will join area Indivisible groups and a coalition of voting rights organizations from across the state to rally against GOP proposals to redraw Florida's congressional districts to further their advantage on Thursday, December 4th, at the state Capitol. Sign up here to join us --- a bus will depart from Jacksonville (Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, 2026 Silver Street) at 9 am for a noon rally preceding the first meeting of the House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting at 1:30 pm. The bus will return to Jacksonville that evening. Email us if you want to carpool from the Beach to the departure site.

Opposing mid-decade redistricting is one of our top 2026 legislative priorities. The Select Committee was formed by the House Speaker after entreaties from Trump and the governor seeking to increase GOP margins before the 2026 elections.

Florida law is clear: gerrymandering for political purposes is illegal under the state Constitution and violates the Fair District Amendments passed by voters in 2010. It undermines the foundational principles of fair representation, silences communities, prioritizes power over people, and targets Black and Latino communities in violation of their rights. In addition to the rally, here are two actions you can take right now to stop the partisan power grab:

Use this link created by Common Cause to call Committee Member Rep. Jessica Baker, a member of the Duval Delegation, and voice your opposition to mid-decade redistricting.
Call Beaches legislators, Rep. Kiyan Michael and Sen. Clay Yarborough, and tell them to put people over politics and to oppose efforts to rig Florida's congressional maps. Follow up with an email using this form from Equal Ground.

Want to know more? Floridians for Democracy is hosting a ZOOM webinar on redistricting featuring Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida, and Bob Schaeffer, political consultant, on Tuesday, December 2, at 7 pm. RSVP here.

Tonight! Fight School Book Bans

The Duval County School Board will vote tonight (Monday, December 1st) on changes to a policy that would allow the Board to hand-pick members for a new book review committee, and rely on a statute a judge has already ruled unconstitutional. Their agenda is clear: make it easier to ban books in our schools. Local activists have organized a picket before the meeting at 5 p.m. at the school administration building (1701 Prudential Drive). They will also be collecting donations of new or gently used coats and nonperishable food items for Full-Service Schools (if you can't make it downtown, email us for a drop-off location at the beach). Our kids deserve access to diverse, age-relevant books, not politically driven censorship. Show up, bring a donation, and speak out! Can't attend the protest? Email the Board today to express your opposition.

Cyber Monday Boycott

A reminder to support We Ain't Buying It, a nationwide economic pressure campaign against corporations that have colluded with the Trump administration. From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, We Ain’t Buying It urges consumers to avoid shopping at Target, Amazon, and Home Depot and call on these major retailers to cease collaborating with and enabling this administration’s harmful policies. The Thanksgiving week boycott is an initiative of Indivisible, Black Voters Matter, and Until Freedom.

Make Your Travel Planet-Positive!

Fly guilt-free this holiday by planting trees through Climate Action Now! Trees for Travel enables you to donate trees to mitigate the impact of air travel. If you are going home for the holidays, consider buying enough trees to sequester your trip’s emissions. The trees, planted by Earthlungs Reforestation Foundation, will support critical forest restoration efforts in Kenya.