A state judge has sided with civil rights groups seeking a redrawing of North Florida’s congressional districts ahead of the midterm elections. Judge Layne Smith of the state’s 2nd Judicial Circuit in Leon County ruled after a nearly four-hour hearing on Wednesday that the map is unconstitutional because it eliminates a district where African American voters can elect their candidate of choice. The map carved Democratic Rep. Al Lawson’s district into four separate districts with white majorities that wouldn’t typically elect Black voters’ preferred candidate. Smith agreed with plaintiffs that the new map violated the Fair Districts Amendment, which prohibits the diminishment of racial and language minority groups’ ability to elect a candidate of their choice. The Florida Supreme Court ...