Georgia State Legislature Declines To Pursue Redistricting Effort

Okay, so this was supposed to be a story about the Georgia state legislature launching a mid-decade redistricting effort with the express purpose of diminishing Black voting power, but halfway through writing it, the legislature announced it would not pursue redistricting during the special session.  

Don’t you just love the news?

WABE reports that Republican state House Speaker Jon Burns and several members of the state House sent a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announcing they would not pursue redistricting. “Since this process has the potential to impact every voter, it deserves the same responsible, fact-driven approach that guides every policy we consider as lawmakers, especially as we seek to understand the full implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais,” the letter reads.

“Changes to Georgia’s maps should take place only when members of the General Assembly and citizens have been given ample opportunity to gather the facts, provide input, and engage in meaningful discussion,” they added. “For this reason, we will not be taking up congressional or legislative redistricting for the 2028 election cycle during this special session.”

AP reports that Kemp explicitly cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais when he called for the redistricting effort last month. What made the apparently failed Georgia effort unusual is the fact that the state didn’t reveal any proposed maps, nor did it reveal who was in charge of drawing them. “They have not been transparent,” said state Rep. Tanya Miller, a Black legislator from Atlanta who is the Democratic nominee for attorney general. “Something as fundamental as voters getting to choose their leaders ought not to be done in the dark, ought not happen in back rooms.” 

The other unusual aspect of Georgia’s redistricting effort was that it would have applied to the state legislature’s boundaries as well. 

From AP News:

Kemp, who is in the final months of his second term, deviated from other governors who fast-tracked new congressional maps for the November midterms partly in response to President Donald Trump’s pleas to shore up the party’s chances at maintaining control of Congress. Kemp instead wants Georgia lawmakers to draw districts for the 2028 elections. Yet the governor moved ahead of his Southern counterparts by asking the Republican-controlled Assembly to redraw its own boundaries, as well.

That would make Georgia the first state to apply Callais to its legislature and demonstrate the cascading effect of the high court’s decision across Southern states with the nation’s highest proportions of Black voters and Black lawmakers.

This is the rare bit of good news to come in the post-Callais landscape. After the Supreme Court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act, states like Louisiana and Tennessee have implemented redistricting efforts that eliminated majority-Black districts in the state.

It remains to be seen if and when Georgia will pursue another redistricting effort ahead of the midterms. If former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) wins Georgia’s gubernatorial race this November, it could effectively shut out the Georgia state legislature from implementing a redistricting effort ahead of the 2028 election. 

SEE ALSO:

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Announces Redistricting Effort

Latest South Carolina Redistricting Effort Targets Rep. James Clyburn