Political battle within the Georgia suburbs as McBath skips districts

ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia US MP Lucy McBath will not go away even if Republicans try to draw district lines to drive back some of the American suburbs from Democrats in Congress.

McBath, a Democrat who wrested Newt Gingrich’s old suburb of Atlanta US House District from the GOP in 2018, is a torchbearer for the Democratic uprisings in what was once prime Republican territory. Georgia’s GOP-controlled General Assembly responded by creating a much more Republican 6 for McBath, a former flight attendant who became known as a gun control activist.

But even as the State House pushed through the new plan for a largely bipartisan vote, McBath announced on Monday that she would jump to another suburb of Atlanta that had voted heavily for the Democrats. She tells her supporters that her mission is too important to stand aside.

“I refuse to resign. We have to fight the Republicans at every turn and this is not the time to lose a mother on a mission in Congress, “McBath said in a statement. “I made a promise to Jordan after he died. I have promised that I will do everything in my power to prevent the tragedy that befell my family from reaching others. “

One complication: Georgia’s 7th Congressional District already has a Democratic incumbent, US MP Carolyn Bourdeaux. It narrowly won the district in 2020, another example of a Democrat ending years of republican control amid a diversifying population and suburban dissatisfaction with a Donald Trump-dominated GOP.

The Georgia reallocation will complete once Republican Governor Brian Kemp signs it. Democrats promise lawsuits, saying the lines violate federal law by discriminating against minority voters.

The net result is what Republicans are looking for – Democrats minus one, nine strong GOP districts under the 14 seats in the US House of Representatives in Georgia, up from the current eight Republican seats.

“What does Lucy McBath really have to offer?” Asked Nathan Porter, leader of the Republican Party of the 6th District. “What did she do for the district other than vote on the Democratic Party’s model?”

But for Jen Cox, who campaigned for years to vote for a Democrat in suburban Atlanta, it is a “frustrating place” to see McBath being ousted from the district.

“She has such a compelling story and she dedicated her life to the memory of her slain son,” said Cox, co-founder of PaveItBlue, a Georgian group dedicated to organizing women to vote for Democrats.

The changes in McBath’s old and new neighborhoods illustrate the shifts in the suburbs that made the Democrats competitive. The Republicans pulled the 6th District out of the heavily Democratic DeKalb County and into heavily Republican territory further north of Atlanta.

In contrast, District 7 Republicans are surrendering after Bourdeaux narrowly won it in 2020, and are attracting a sure-blue district in the suburbs of Counties Gwinnett and Fulton, which have seen an influx of Latinos, Asian and black voters.

University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, who wrote a book on redistribution, said Republicans had withdrawn to a “defensible position” amid adverse demographic and political changes.

“I think the way you configured the 6th Ward tells me that you realize the changes will continue,” said Bullock.

Democrats have a less benevolent view.

“The suburbs are being messed up,” said Essence Johnson, a McBath supporter and former Democratic candidate for the Democratic Legislature who lives in Smyrna.

“You’re scared,” Johnson said of the Republicans. “She won the seat twice. I think change and change have some level of fear. They are afraid of losing this power. “

Neither McBath nor Bourdeaux live in the new 7th district, although this is not required for a member of Congress.

Bourdeaux noted that she worked to take root in sprawling Gwinnett County, which is home to nearly 1 million people.

“I am the Gwinnett representative in the running for a predominantly Gwinnett-dominated district,” she said in a statement. “The People of the 7th deserve a representative who understands and cares for their needs and who fought for them in Washington”.

There may be other candidates. State MP Donna McLeod said Monday that she also intends to move for the Democratic nomination on the 7th.

One of McBath’s perks is their support through Michael Bloomberg affiliate Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group that McBath once worked for. Everytown groups spent more than $ 6.3 million in 2018 and 2020 to support McBath’s campaigns, records show.

“I can’t imagine Congress without her,” said Adrienne Penake, a resident of the 6th. “I can’t imagine without her voice. How that ends, I have no idea. “

Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.