Legislature passes new maps, concludes redistricting session ahead of deadline
Judge Jones sets Dec. 20 hearing on new maps
State lawmakers have given final approval to new sets of voting maps, concluding a special redistricting session that was called after a federal judge said that the current boundaries left Black Georgians at a disadvantage.
Facing a court-imposed Friday deadline, the Republican-controlled legislature Thursday finished approving new boundaries for both of its chambers, along with Georgia’s 14 congressional districts. Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to quickly sign them into law.
The process won’t end there. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones will hold a hearing later this month and will determine if mapmakers at the Gold Dome followed his instructions.
The new state senate map increases the Black populations in two Atlanta-area districts currently held by Democrats to ease the creation of two new majority-Black districts without endangering any Republican incumbents. It is an effort by the majority to safeguard the chamber’s current partisan breakdown.
Over in the House, lawmakers devised a new map creating 3 new majority-Black districts in Metro Atlanta and two in Macon. But incumbents were not nearly as lucky: 4 pairs of lawmakers were drawn into primaries with a colleague, forcing half of them out of office next year.
The new congressional map maintains Republicans’ 9-5 advantage and once again seeks to reshape the district held by Rep. Lucy McBath. This comes just two years after new maps forced the Marietta Democrat to abandon her district and challenge a Democratic colleague on friendlier turf.
“Lucy McBath may have become the most recent version of John Barrow,” quipped Charles Bullock, a longtime political science professor at the University of Georgia and the author of Redistricting: The Most Political Activity in America.
Bullock is referring to a former Democratic congressman who, like McBath, was seen as a threat to Republicans’ hold on power and saw his district redrawn multiple times by state lawmakers during his time in Congress.
This time around, the new lines dismantle McBath’s Gwinnett-based 7th district to make room for a new majority-Black district in Atlanta’s western suburbs. That district would include much of the territory covered by Rep. David Scott’s (D-Atlanta) current 13th district. All nine Republican incumbents will remain secure.
Legal experts have suggested that the maps fall short of Judge Jones’ ruling. The judge warned lawmakers not to create a new majority-Black district at the expense of existing districts where minority communities make up a majority of voters.
As many as two in three registered voters in the current District 7 are people of color, and its Democratic primary electorate is usually dominated by African-Americans. The diverse makeup of the district helped power Rep. McBath, who is Black, to a landslide victory in a 2022 primary against then-Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, who is white.
Democrats opposed the maps and have said that they fail to provide Black voters with more representation.
“This really does diminish the Black voice and the Black vote,” said state Sen. Tonya Anderson, a Lithonia Democrat. “And it’s all over this map from District 10 to congressional District 7. This is not a good representation of who we are and where we are going.”
But state Sen. Shelly Echols defended the new maps and believes that minority opportunity districts only refer to existing majority-Black districts. “The Voting Rights Act protects distinct minority groups, not coalitions,” said the Gainesville Republican, who chairs the Senate redistricting committee.
Judge Jones has scheduled a hearing for December 20 and will soon decide whether these new maps follow the court’s instructions. If he rejects them, he will likely appoint an outside expert, or a special master, to draw new maps for the 2024 election. Republicans are still appealing and have passed language that would reinstate the current maps if a higher court finds in their favor.
Bullock said that he is seeing similarities to Alabama’s redistricting case earlier this year. Our neighbors to the west refused to comply with a trial court’s instructions to create a new majority-Black district, and a special master was hired to draw the map that was ultimately adopted.
“It’s possible we see the same thing happen here in Georgia.”