New Georgia House map divides Rep. Lucy McBath’s district

A new Georgia congressional map proposal aims to divide Rep. Lucy McBath’s (D-Ga.) district, while keeping Republicans’ 9-5 majority among House members.

The proposed map, issued by the state GOP Friday, came in response to an October ruling by U.S. District Judge Steve Jones that the Peach State’s current congressional layout discriminates against Black voters, specifically in the west metro Atlanta region.

The Georgia Republicans’ plan would split McBath’s northeast Atlanta district between its neighbors and shift it north — farther away from the city and closer to Republican voters. It also forms a new majority-Black district in west metro Atlanta, as the judge ordered, but changes in other districts would keep the 9-5 divide.

The redrawn districts in the proposed map, similar to the current layout, are not closely competitive.

It’s the second time redistricting has targeted McBath, a prominent gun control activist who was elected to the 6th District in 2018. Redistricting in 2021 made the district uncompetitively conservative, so McBath primaried and defeated an incumbent Democrat in the 7th District to stay in Congress.

“Georgia Republicans have yet again attempted to subvert voters by changing the rules. We will look to the ruling from Judge Jones in the coming weeks before announcing further plans,” McBath campaign manager Jake Orvis said in a statement. “Regardless, Congresswoman McBath refuses to let an extremist few in the state legislature determine when her time serving Georgians in Congress is done.”

Democrats and anti-gerrymandering activists argue that the new maps keep the systemic discriminatory representation of current district boundaries while solving only some of the issues pointed out in the federal court order.

The new map effectively switches a plurality-Black congressional district for a majority-Black one, they argue.

“Is it appropriate to dismantle that district in order to create another one? That’s an important question,” New York University redistricting researcher Kareem Crayton told the Associated Press. “If I were the legislature, I would proceed with great caution if I were trying to make that one-for-one switch.”

Georgia Republicans also proposed new maps for the state House and Senate, which Jones ruled were also discriminatory. State Democrats argue that the new maps are illegal.

The proposal adds five new majority-Black districts for the state legislature, as ordered, but removes two in the process. That goes against Jones’ ruling, Democrats said.

“This Republican map is unlawful,” State Rep. Sam Park (D) said on the legislature floor Friday. “It is a map that Judge Jones can and should reject.”

“Unfortunately, it seems we are repeating the mistakes of our dark past under Republican control of the state of Georgia,” he continued. “Not only are these maps unlawful, they cling to power and maintain an unrepresentative majority that does not reflect our great state… To put it plainly, it seems Republicans are trying to remedy their racial discrimination with partisan gerrymandering.”

Democrats are expected to oppose the maps in federal court, where Jones will review the new proposal.

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