Republicans who control the Georgia legislature on Thursday finalized a new congressional map that safeguards their party’s dominance in state politics and dashes, for the time being, Democrats’ hopes of adding an additional US House seat.
Critics of the court-ordered map, approved in a special legislative session, argue it defies parts of a federal judge’s decree to boost Black political power in this swing state and predicted further legal challenges even before the final vote.
Republicans have defended the map as fully compliant with the order issued in October by US District Judge Steve Jones after he found the state’s existing district lines violated the Voting Rights Act. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to sign the new map – and two legislative maps, which preserve GOP majorities in the state House and Senate – into law by the court-imposed deadline of Friday.
Politicians in Washington are closely monitoring redistricting moves in Georgia and several other states around the country because these maps could determine which party controls the US House of Representatives after next year’s elections. Republicans currently hold a slender majority in the chamber.
The new Georgia congressional map complies with Jones’ order to establish an additional Black-majority district but preserves the GOP’s 9-5 edge in its US House delegation. The map targets Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath’s Atlanta-area district by moving it farther into Republican territory.
“It is a fair map for the people of Georgia,” Republican state Rep. Matt Reeves said Thursday, shortly before the state House voted 98-71 to approve the congressional plan, the final step before sending it to Kemp’s desk.
But Democratic state Rep. Sam Park said the new map amounted to open defiance of Jones’ order and described it as reminiscent of some Republicans’…
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