In 2011, FL9 was redistricted: Originally including eastern Hillsborough County, northern Pinellas County, and the Gulf coast of Pasco County, the new district contains Osceola County, central Orange County, and northeastern Polk County. The district’s demographics from before and after the redistricting are shocking, as the 2007 demographics show a large white only population of 78.9% the population and a small proportion of Latinos at 11.8% but the 2012 and 2017 demographics have Latino proportions of 46.4% and 42.0%, respectively, and similar proportions of white only populations, at 37.1% and 40.6%, respectively. While the native population has remained high in all three years, with 87.5%, 79.8%, and 82.6%, respectively, the foreign-born and foreign-born and not a citizen populations have decreased from 2012 to 2017, with percentage point changes of -2.8 and -1.7, respectively.

Existing literature on the immigrant experience show how it is largely affected by the immigrant and Latino populations. de Graauw and Vermeulen find that the proportion of the immigrant population is a significant predictor of immigrant integration, and Fernandez-Kelly writes that a larger Latino population can create a greater sense of community and unity among Latino immigrants. Research on public opinion shows that a larger Latino population leads to more support for permissive immigration policies, but a large and growing Latino population in a Republic district can lead to greater support for restrictive policies (Wong 2014). However, findings also show that greater interactions between whites and Spanish-speaking Latinos leads to greater support for restrictive immigration policies (Enos 2014). As for media coverage, Abrajano and Hajnal find that most immigration media coverage of Latinos show them in a negative light, and this “threat narrative” is largely accepted by. Similarly, Branton and Dunaway and Abrajano and Singh find that local media also show immigrants in a negative light, unless the news is presented by Spanish media outlets or immigrants are portrayed as beneficial to the economy.

Based on existing research, I predict that the smaller proportion of immigrants in Florida’s 9th Congressional district means that immigrant integration is weaker. But because of the large Latino population, Latino immigrants also likely feel a greater sense of belonging within the Latino community. I predict that there is greater support for permissive immigration policies because of the large Latino population in a Democratic district and because it is hard to predict the level of white and Spanish-speaking Latino interactions without further research. I predict that media coverage is likely more positive since Latinos are a large part of the district population and thus a large part of the economy. But because of the equally large white population, a big portion of the population likely still accepts the “threat narrative.”

My brief research plan will test my predictions on media coverage. I will research the most popular local news and media outlets as well as proportion of Spanish news outlets. When analyzing the media, I will take a similar approach to how we analyzed our district representative’s Twitter feeds, looking at the news content January 2019 to March 2019 using the key words “immigration,” “immigrant,” “border,” “wall,” “undocumented,” and “Latino.” I will look at the tone of news, estimate the percentage of positive and negative stories, and analyze the content and focus of the news coverage.