A new congressional map is now law. After months of legislative tension marked along the way with a dramatic veto and a protest of the House floor, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday quietly signed cartography his own staff crafted. But in the prior few days, a related drama played out in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.

While all drafts of legislative maps pretty much left Southwest Florida alone, the Governor’s map submissions since February signaled nowhere would be safe from deviations in the political terrain. The final DeSantis map split Manatee and Sarasota into entirely different congressional districts. It soon became clear both U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan and Greg Steube, both Republicans, wanted to run for the same seat.

Buchanan has represented Sarasota his entire political career. He also represents all of Manatee County but at his core remains a north Sarasota businessman who brought his kids to Venice beach as they grew up. Steube, on the other hand, was reared in Manatee, where his father served for years as Sheriff. He moved south years ago, drawn by a state Senate seat and rewarded with an open U.S. House seat. He won election to Congress representing a south Sarasota County district spanning into the Florida Heartland and giving Steube a constituency perfectly for his conservative-in-cowboy boots persona. Meanwhile, north Sarasota’s wine bars, waterfront estates and corporate conservatives remained Buchanan country.

The new map shakes that up. U.S. House District 16 begins at University Parkway and goes north until State Road 60 in Brandon. That contains two thirds of Buchanan’s constituency, all north the Sarasota community where his name adorns the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce building. The full of Sarasota County goes to U.S. House District 17, which also includes Charlotte County and northeast Lee.

About 60% of Steube’s existing voters fall in the new District 17. In a strange twist, the two congressmen’s most obvious turf lay in opposite districts of where these two men might call their hometowns. 

For about 15 hours from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, suspense reached a fever pitch. It seemed Greg Steube would a play. The Club for Growth, a Washington, D.C. group famous for picking favorite in Republican primaries, endorsed Steube and mentioned District 17 by number. Buchanan world continued to signal, though, he too wanted to settle in 17 and what’s so bad about Steube returning to Manatee anyway? For a minute, it looked like we might have a primary of giants. Buchanan, an incoming potential Ways and Means chair, could marshal both a national network of support and much of his personal fortune to defend a seat of his choice.

Nonetheless, Steube laid claim on District 17 Thursday morning. A release raised sensitive issues — his support for guns, his commitment to “election integrity” — that not only would play well with a Republican base but hit issues where Buchanan’s critics from the right have tried to hammer him. Buchanan supports background checks and voted to certify Joe Biden’s victory when Steube would not. From a gadfly like Martin Hyde, raising these issues in a primary felt like bites from a pesky mosquito. Buchanan’s reputation as a commonsense conservative would surely prevail. But would calculus differ in more conservative district in the age of Trump?

For a moment, the chance of a District 17 primary fueled intrigue, and an open District 16 piqued ambition. Who would run there? Former state Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton? Rep. Tommy Gregory, R-Lakewood Ranch? State Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Trumpworld? For a bit, it felt like every major player in the region considered a run. Could some entries even make an incumbent’s return to the race difficult.

The drama didn’t last. Within an hour of Steube’s announcement, Buchanan declared he would settle on District 16. No drama this year. And yet, a specter still looms.

Critics of the DeSantis’ map see a rough judiciary road ahead for the cartography in court. It could be this new map gets thrown out by judges in a cycle or two, just as happened in 2015. If that outcome arrives, the whole speculation game on who runs where shall start anew.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA.