Democrats and Republicans will meet at the State Capitol on November 3 to begin realigning Georgia’s congressional boroughs, a decades-long exercise to address the population shifts reflected in the US census.
Both parties offer very different ideas about how Georgia should be represented in Congress, with Republicans trying to keep their majority in the Peach State’s 14-member delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats trying to balance things out.
Georgia House and Senate Democrats showed their cards on October 21 by posting a proposed Congressional card ahead of the special session of the Legislature. Democrats said their card would give Georgia colored voters a fair opportunity to vote for representatives of their choice, as minorities make up the majority of residents in six of the 14 counties (counties 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 13).
“We’re focusing on maps that adequately reflect Georgia,” said Senator Elena Parent, D-Atlanta. “We have seen a lot of growth among minority groups. We believe the maps should reflect these significant changes. “
But with Republicans in control of the General Assembly, any card the Democrats propose – whether a Congressional card or proposed boundaries for the state and Senate counties – promises to be dead upon arrival.
The key question for the GOP will be whether to try to win back one of the two congressional seats in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, which were lost to the Democrats in the last two election cycles, or whether to go broke and try to recapture both seats.
A map of the Republican Congress of the Georgia Senate released in late September appears to take the more cautious approach. It goes to the seat of the 6th District Congressional, Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, who won in 2018 by moving the heavily republican Forsyth County to the district and removing parts of North Fulton and North DeKalb counties that belonged to the Democrats are friendlier.
Brian Robinson, a former top advisor to the then government. Nathan Deal and a Republican political commentator said the Democratic slump in recent years has left the GOP without voting power to recapture both 6th and 7th district seats.
“We can’t draw 6 and 7 as Republican wards,” he said. “But the opportunity is there to bring a Republican back.”
Earlier this month, the Princeton Gerrymandering Project partnered with RepresentUs, a non-partisan anti-corruption organization, to award the GOP card a “C” on their Redistricting Report Card based on partisan fairness, competitiveness and geographic features. The organization said that a “C” rating means that the proposed card is average and better, but it could also be worse.
The same testimony gave the Democrats’ card a “B” for partisan fairness and said the card would give the Democrats a slight edge. It also gave the Democratic Card two “Cs” for competitiveness and geographic features.
“If all levels of government are to address Georgians’ education, health care and infrastructure needs for the next 10 years, the state needs a community-based districting process,” said Jack Genberg, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Legal Center. “So far, the leaders of the Georgian legislature in this process have shown a disdain for the public and their needs. You carried out a sham trial. “
Genberg said lawmakers rescheduled all of its community meetings to redistribute before the census figures were actually released.
“Legislators have these advance data and guidance sessions for large parts of Georgians whose first language is not English, Georgians with mobility problems and other disabilities, the hearing impaired and those who are during a resurgent pandemic or because of work or family commitments,” Genberg said.
RepresentUS recently ranked Georgia as one of 35 states most at risk for partisan gerrymandering. The organization said the risks are high as new voting cards could be secretly controlled and drawn by politicians and manipulated for partisan gain. It is also said that so-called “manipulated” voting cards are difficult to challenge in court.
Democrats say their card is likely to lead to a 7-7 split in the Georgian congressional delegation as well. There are currently eight Republicans in Congress representing Georgia and six Democrats.
“Georgia has changed significantly in the past decade, and our proposed congressional map reflects that growth,” said US MP Sanford Bishop, D-Columbus. “The voters in Georgia should vote for their representatives, not the other way around, and this card guarantees that.”
The GOP card was issued by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and State Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, who chairs the Senate Redistribution and Redistribution Committee.
“Not only does this card comply with the principles of redistribution, but we are proud to present a card that Georgians can be proud of regardless of political party,” said Duncan when the card was released. “It will continue to be of the utmost importance to ensure that all the maps we create are fair, compact and hold interest groups together.”
