Brown sensed danger in 2010, when Florida voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution aimed at banning political gerrymandering. Brown's meandering district, which then ran from Jacksonville in the north to Orlando in the south, was often highlighted as a prime example of gerrymandering.
She fought the amendment in federal court and lost and later waged an unsuccessful legal fight against a court-ordered redistricting plan that created the current east-west configuration. Brown insisted that an African-American Democrat could not win the seat, despite the fact that President Barack Obama won it by more than 28 points in 2012.