Cobb Republicans file bill to redistrict county commission seats

Like they did regarding reapportionment for the Cobb Board of Education, Republican legislators in Cobb County have filed their own map for the redistricting of Board of Commissioner seats that are separate from the county’s legislative delegation leaders.

In HB 1154, filed Tuesday by several GOP House members—including three from East Cobb—both county commissioners representing East Cobb would be drawn into the same district.

(You can read through the bill by clicking here.)

The lead sponsor of the bill is John Carson of Northeast Cobb, and his lines would place most of East Cobb inside District 3, currently held by three-term Republican JoAnn Birrell.

She’s up for re-election in 2022, along with fellow Republican Keli Gambrill of North Cobb.

They both voted against a recommended map drawn by State Rep. Erick Allen, a Smyrna Democrat and the Cobb delegation chairman, that was supported by the commission’s three-Democrat majority.

Birrell said she did not support that map because it has taken out some of her East Cobb precincts.

Like the school board map, the GOP proposal would reduce representation in East Cobb.

Currently, District 2 includes East Cobb north of Powers Ferry Road and east of East Piedmont Road, reaching up through the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford area and including the area around Mabry Park.

That seat has been held since 2021 by Democrat Jerica Richardson, who succeeded three-term Republican Bob Ott, and whose term expires in 2024.

She had been living in the Cumberland-Smyrna area, but last summer moved into a new home off Post Oak Tritt Road.

Under Carson’s bill, that area would be included in the new District 3 (in yellow on the map at the top), which would stretch down to the Powers Ferry Road corridor. District 2 (in pink in the same map) would fall along the I-75 corridor from Kennesaw and through Marietta and retain most of the Cumberland-Vinings-Smyrna areas.

Districts 2 and 3 were redrawn in 2014 to balance population.

Birrell lost some of her Northeast Cobb base in exchange for more areas in and around the city of Marietta. In 2018, she was re-elected with only 51 percent of the vote.

Until 2020, she had been part of a 4-1 Republican majority on the commission. But Richardson defeated GOP candidate Fitz Johnson to succeed the retiring Ott and former commissioner Lisa Cupid ousted GOP chairman Mike Boyce to create a 3-2 Democratic majority.

The Cobb Republican bills aren’t the only ones that would usurp usual county delegation deference in local redistricting.

Typically the full legislature honors the votes of county delegations to redraw local lines. But both the Cobb and Gwinnett delegations have slight Democratic majorities.

GOP lawmakers in Gwinnett have filed similar bills as that once heavily Republican county has swung toward Democrats.

The Cobb Republican bills would go through a similar process, first being heard in a House committee.

HB 1028, the Cobb GOP school board redistricting bill, was revised on Tuesday and has not yet been scheduled for committee consideration.

The Cobb commissioners redistricting bill will have a first reading in the House before being assigned to a committee.

Allen has called a press conference for Thursday morning at the Georgia Capitol to address Cobb redistricting issues.

Related:

• East Cobb Cityhood bill sponsor resigns from legislature
• Cobb Republicans file school board redistricting bill
• East Cobb Cityhood bill passes Georgia House
• East Cobb News Politics & Elections guide

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