New maps leave Dems facing primaries, district switches and early retirements
Political dominoes begin to fall after judge approves GOP redistricting
Georgia Democrats entered last fall’s redistricting session hoping to chip away at majority Republicans’ grip on power in the key battleground state. But with new maps now in place, the process has left many of their prominent members facing primaries, district switches and even early retirements.
A judge over the holiday break signed off on the Republican-led redistricting effort, and we are already seeing political dominoes fall with the new sets of boundaries set to be used in this year’s election.
“It’s very disappointing because we’re subject to lose some very good members of this House of Representatives as a result,” conceded one Democratic state lawmaker.
Republicans passed maps that create new majority-Black districts as ordered by the federal court, but they did so by reconfiguring several Democratic-held districts around metro Atlanta to try and preserve both their Gold Dome and Capitol Hill majorities.
The new map of Georgia’s 14 congressional districts, for example, adds a new majority-Black district while again dismembering the territory represented by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Marietta). An outspoken gun control activist, McBath was forced to switch from her original North Atlanta district to her current Gwinnett-based seat after the last round of redistricting.
Now, just two years later, Rep. McBath is again switching districts — this time running for the new majority-Black district on Atlanta’s western fringes. Civil rights groups argued that McBath’s current seat is protected because it is a “coalition district.” However, the court said that the case has only focused on Black Georgians, with the judge adding that the debate over coalition districts is a different lawsuit for a different courtroom.
Shifting from Washington to a little closer to home, the maps are having a ripple effect at the state capitol: some Democratic House lawmakers were drawn into the same district, and two Democratic state senators are now running in districts that could make them vulnerable to primary challenges.
Democratic State Sens. Jason Esteves and Elena Parent, who are both viewed as potential candidates for higher office in the coming years, saw their predominantly white districts shift into heavily Black territory south of Atlanta. But they both say that they are not deterred by the new boundaries and say that they look forward to introducing themselves to new voters.
“I am really looking forward to representing a new part of metro Atlanta and getting to know new constituents,” said Parent, the Democratic caucus chair whose DeKalb-based district now extends southward to take in several Clayton County communities like Morrow and Lake City.
Esteves’ district, meanwhile, will move from Atlanta’s affluent Buckhead community to several majority-Black neighborhoods south and west of the city. But the former school board president says that his conversations with voters will remain the same no matter what area he represents.
In the state House, two Democratic lawmakers have already said that they will not run for re-election this year after the new maps placed them in districts with fellow caucus members.
State Rep. Gregg Kennard (D-Lawrenceville), who was one of about a dozen Democrats to flip suburban districts in 2018, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it took him just 10 minutes to decide that he wouldn’t run against minority whip State Rep. Sam Park, another Lawrenceville Democrat whom Kennard regards as a mentor and a friend.
“My heart wouldn’t be in it at all,” Kennard said. “I felt like I had a few more terms in me. But for the moment, this seems like the end of the road for me in the Legislature.”
State Rep. Doug Stoner, a Democrat from Smyrna, rejoined the legislature last year after a decade-long absence. But his return looks to be short-lived, as he was drawn into a primary against State Rep. Teri Anulewicz, a fellow Smyrna Democrat who previously served with him on the Smyrna City Council. Like Kennard, Stoner said that he would step down rather than square off against a longtime colleague and that he looks forward “to finding other opportunities to serve” his community.
A third pair of Democrats, State Reps. Becky Evans and Saira Draper, saw their homes drawn into the same Atlanta-area district. But it did not take long for both of them to announce that they plan to seek another term.
“It’s an uncomfortable situation for everyone,” said Draper, a voting rights expert who reminds us that she currently represents most of the new district. “But I think what I have been able to contribute is very much needed and important.”
Evans, meanwhile, said that she also has unfinished business to tackle but that she would like to keep things cordial. “We both work hard and respect each other,” the former nonprofit director said of Draper. “And we’ll let the voters decide.”
The primary is in May.