Depending on who is asked, Georgia’s redrawn congressional maps are either an open act of defiance or exactly what federal Judge Steve Jones instructed lawmakers to do when he struck down the state’s political maps for diluting the voting strength of Black voters.
That map, along with two revised legislative maps, will be under scrutiny by Jones during a hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 20. An appeal is expected no matter what the judge decides.
The three maps were quickly ushered through a special session called by Gov. Brian Kemp. The high-stakes congressional map received a final vote on Dec. 7 – and signed by Kemp the next day – after a bitter debate in the House over how GOP lawmakers went about creating the court-ordered new Black majority district in west metro Atlanta.
Republicans argue the congressional map complies with the judge’s order to create the new district. Democrats blasted their GOP colleagues for chopping up the racially and culturally diverse 7th District in the north Atlanta suburbs in the process. The 7th District is represented by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, who is a Black Democrat.
The district’s current form has a voting-age majority made up of a combined 66% Black, Latino and Asian people. The new map would make it about 66% white.
“So you put Blacks into the 6th District, but are you diluting the vote strength of Asian-American and Latino voters in Gwinnett County, which is also kind of an important thing?” said Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie. “So are you, for all intents and purposes, fixing one problem, but then creating another problem?”
McBath represented the 6th district before the map was redrawn in 2021 to favor a Republican candidate, leading her to challenge a fellow Democrat in the 7th district. That change helped the GOP gain a congressional seat in Georgia last year, giving them a 9-5 majority that would likely remain if the new map survives judicial review.
Republican Attorney General Chris Carr requested in a court filing that Jones appoint a special master by Jan. 16 to redraw the maps if Jones finds the new ones are not in compliance.
Carr wrote that the governor and General Assembly quickly held the special redistricting session after Jones’ ruling. He also stressed the importance of having district maps approved for a 2024 election cycle that begins with a presidential primary on March 12 and continues with a general election primary on May 21.
Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said there is a good chance that the maps that were just drawn will be used in 2024 while the case continues to be litigated. Any new maps must be ready with enough time for candidates and state and local election officials to prepare for an election and to also notify voters about the reshaped districts, he said.
“People say that business business leaders don’t like uncertainty, well neither do political leaders,” Bullock said. “You’re hired and fired by the people in your district so you want to know exactly who those people are and be responsive to them as well as trying to raise money from them.”
This story was condensed from a longer report on the redrawn congressional maps that appeared on the Georgia Recorder site. You can read the full story here.