Legal challenges threaten Cobb Commissioner's re-election bid

Jerica Richardson was elected to Cobb Commission in 2020

Jerica Richardson

A legal challenge that will be argued in court this week could imperil the re-election chances of a first-term county commissioner in Cobb County.

Democrat Jerica Richardson was elected to the Cobb County Board of Commissioners in 2020 representing East Cobb. Her narrow victory, along with Lisa Cupid’s win in the countywide race for Commission Chair, handed control of the five-member panel to Democrats for the first time in decades.

GOP lawmakers draw local maps in Dem-controlled counties

But the following year was a redistricting year. In most instances, local maps are proposed by county officials and then rubber-stamped by the legislature. But in 2021, Republican state lawmakers took it upon themselves to draw their own maps in several counties, a move that was seen as retaliatory towards Democratic victories in several once-reliably Republican counties like Cobb and Gwinnett.

Richardson was one of the Democratic officials targeted by the state takeover of the local redistricting process. A map passed by the legislature would have moved Richardson’s home out of the district that she represents — which means that she would have been forced to step down from office on January 1, 2023, the day that the maps were to go into effect.

So why is Richardson still in office?

Because Cobb County fired back and passed a map of their own — one that would have maintained Richardson’s residence and therefore allow her to continue serving the remainder of her term. The county invoked “home rule,” a legal theory that aims to protect county governments from state overreach.

The saga only escalated from there. The commission’s two Republican members, JoAnn Birrell and Kelly Gambrill, have said that the maps are not legal and abstained in protest from the vote to pass them. The state has also filed two lawsuits against the county.

In one case, they are seeking to challenge the county’s move to invoke home rule. In the other, they are seeking to throw out the maps drawn by the county and reimplement the one that was drawn by the legislature. Both cases are being heard by the same judge and are likely to be considered together.

The first hearing is set for Friday, July 7. If the state loses the case, the maps approved by the county will remain in place, meaning that Richardson will be allowed to continue serving and campaign for re-election.

But if they win, Richardson could be forced to resign before the end of her term, unless she decides to move within her district’s boundaries before the end of the year to meet the one-year residency requirement.

Lawyers say that there is no precedent for this type of situation because a case like this has not been argued in court before. So no one really knows what the judge will ultimately decide.

Regardless of the outcome, Richardson remains optimistic and says that she looks forward to continue serving her community. The Democrat is reportedly exploring a run for another office if defeated in court, with one source saying that she is exploring a run for Congress in District 6, which includes most of East Cobb.

District 6 is currently held by Republican Rep. Rich McCormick of Suwanee. Once Democratic-friendly territory, it became heavily Republican after state lawmakers redrew the maps, which means Richardson or any Democrat would face an uphill climb in the general election. But any decision will reportedly be about service to her East Cobb community, not political odds.

It is worth keeping in mind that there is a separate federal lawsuit against Georgia’s congressional maps. Plaintiffs are arguing that the state disenfranchised Black voters when drawing these maps. If a judge agrees, the legislature could be forced to redraw the congressional map — which could change the way districts are drawn in Cobb and several other metro Atlanta counties.