Ga. special legislative reapportionment session to start

The Georgia General Assembly will begin a special session on Wednesday to redraw Congressional and legislative districts.

An initial hearing of the House Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee takes place at 1 p.m. at the Georgia Capitol.

The session was prompted following a decision by a federal judge in Atlanta to throw out the maps the legislature adopted in 2022, saying they diluted minority voting strength.

The Georgia legislature has had Republican majorities since 2005. Currently the GOP has a 102-78 advantage in the House, and a 33-23 majority in the Senate.

Party control isn’t expected to change, but the judge ordered that a majority-black Congressional district in the western part of metro Atlanta be created, as well as several majority-black legislative districts in the Atlanta and Macon areas.

None of them are in the East Cobb area, but map proposals released earlier this week show some dramatically different lines.

A map proposed by Senate Republicans would remove District 6, currently represented by Democrat Jason Esteves of Atlanta, out of East Cobb completely.

Instead, District 33, represented by West Cobb Democrat Doc Rhett, would sweep across the county, taking in a sizable portion of East Cobb.

A map proposed by the Senate Democratic Caucus would expand District 6 further into East Cobb.

Both maps would include much of the East Cobb area currently represented by Republicans Kay Kirkpatrick (District 32) and John Albers (District 56).

The House Republican leadership has proposed a House map (at right) that would make some minor changes to East Cobb representation in that body, retaining most of the current areas of Districts 37, 43, 44, 45 and 46. House Democrats have not yet filed a map.

The legislature also will have to redraw all 14 of Georgia’s Congressional districts, which could affect East Cobb representation. Nine of those seats are held by Republicans.

In 2022, the General Assembly drew Congressional maps that included portions of District 6 and District 11 in East Cobb.

Those are currently represented by Republicans Rich McCormick and Barry Loudermilk, respectively.

District 6 had included most of East Cobb and for three terms was represented by Democrat Lucy McBath. But she moved to the Democratic-leaning 7th District in Gwinnett after the 6th was redrawn to include North Fulton and GOP strongholds in Forsyth and Dawson counties.

No proposed maps have been submitted as of yet.

Democratic Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson, who was drawn out of her District 2 by the legislature that is the subject of a current legal dispute, is running for 6th District Congress and has held several fundraising and other events.

The legislature, which has until Dec. 8 to redraw the maps, also is conducting other limited business during the special session.

You can track the session and watch live feeds by clicking here.

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