Georgia assembly sent a map that adds Black districts but keeps GOP advantage to Judge. Georgia lawmakers have given their approval to a “revised congressional map, ensuring Republicans maintain a 9-5 advantage.”
This move is in accordance with a court’s directive to include a majority-Black district. However, this decision will likely result in a legal dispute due to the alteration of districts required to create the aforementioned seat.
Georgia assembly sent a map that adds Black districts but keeps GOP advantage to Judge. The draft says “Under the new boundaries for U.S. House representatives, the number of congressional seats in Georgia with a majority of its voting age inhabitants identifying as part-Black will double.”
This includes the addition of a new 6th District in the western suburbs of Atlanta and a rearranged 5th District encompassing a larger number of Black voters. These districts will join the existing 4th and 13th districts as having a majority-Black population.
However, the potential formation of a new district with a high likelihood of electing a Democrat is limited by the transformation of the predominantly nonwhite 7th District, currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, into a heavily white and predominantly Republican constituency.
This newly redrawn district extends from the northern suburbs of Atlanta all the way to the mountains of north Georgia.
In response to the violation of the Voting Rights Act and the disenfranchisement of Black voters in a state experiencing significant population growth and growing competitiveness in statewide races, U.S.
District Judge Steve Jones has mandated lawmakers to hold a special session. Their task is to include eight districts with Black majorities in the political maps – five in the state House, two in the state Senate, and one in the U.S. House.
In accordance with the judge’s directive, the GOP-controlled legislature has passed revised redistricting plans on paper, increasing the number of majority-Black districts as required. The congressional map goes a step further by adding two Black districts instead of one.
However, the actual impact of these changes predominantly maintains the existing partisan division within each legislative body.
This is achieved by strategically rearranging other districts in a way that essentially alters the preferred Democratic candidates for Black voters.
Democrats and voting rights groups claim that the establishment of two majority-Black House seats in the congressional maps undermines the existing majority-minority coalition in the 7th District and disregards Jones’ directive, which prohibits the elimination of minority opportunity districts in other areas.
Republicans, however, argue that the order solely pertains to preserving current majority-black districts.
House Redistricting Chairman Rob Leverett (R-Elberton) explained on Thursday that while he acknowledges the language used is significant, it does not hold the same meaning attributed to it by his colleagues from the opposing party.
He pointed out that the term “minority opportunity districts,” as interpreted by his counterparts, was never explicitly mentioned or defined in the relevant case. In this specific context, the minority group under discussion, whose rights were being defended, specifically refers to Black voters.
After being reviewed, the congressional, state House, and state Senate maps are now being sent to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. However, Jones will have the opportunity to review the plans during a hearing scheduled for December 20.
