The Georgia legislature completed a special session Thursday by adopting Congressional maps that would place all of East Cobb in the 11th U.S. House District.
But Cobb Democratic commissioner Jerica Richardson, who has announced for the 6th Congressional District that was substantially redrawn, said she doesn’t think the maps will “hold up.”
They don’t pass “the smell test,” she said in an interview Thursday on the Politically Georgia podcast, before the maps were passed.
The Republican-majority legislature was called into a special session following a federal judge’s order to redraw legislative and Congressional lines for violations of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
Specifically, lawmakers were ordered to create a new majority-black Congressional district in metro Atlanta. That appears to be the new 6th District, which includes most of South Cobb and covers an area represented by longtime Democratic incumbent David Scott.
In a posting on her campaign Facebook page, Richardson said Thursday night that “the maps that Republicans drew are in clear violation of a federal court order to add a new majority-minority district. We fully expect a legal challenge to this map, and there’s a high likelihood that it can succeed.”
Richardson said she hasn’t decided which district she may decide to run in—candidates do not have to live in their Congressional districts—but ruled out competing against any Democratic incumbent.
“We will evaluate where the need is and decide whether my message will resonate with the communities in that district,” she said in the Politically Georgia interview.
While she was asked if she may take on current 6th District Republican incumbent Rich McCormick in the new 7th District, Richardson didn’t mention the prospect of running in the new 11th District.
That seat is held by Republican Barry Loudermilk, and the new lines would include some of Cherokee County, as well as all of Bartow, Pickens and Gordon counties.
She continued in her social media message that “while the battles play out in court over the next few weeks, I remain committed to running a grassroots campaign on the same issues that have driven me from the start: connecting all communities to power and ensuring they have a voice in government, protecting our fundamental rights, expanding access to healthcare, improving infrastructure and transit, and enhancing economic empowerment.”
Richardson, who was drawn out of her Cobb Commission District 2 home in East Cobb by the legislature last year, has been holding meetings and events in the current 6th—which stretches from East Cobb up through North Fulton, Forsyth and Dawson counties—since she announced her Congressional ambitions this summer.
Richardson and her two Democratic colleagues on the commission invoked home rule over reapportionment, which critics say violates the state constitution.
A Cobb Superior Court judge is expected to rule this month on that legal dispute.
“At every roadblock, there has been an incredible outpouring of community support,” she said on the podcast. “I don’t expect this to be any different.
“At the end of the day, people just want people to represent them. If we can keep the focus, we’ll all be okay.”
Related:
- Legislature passes maps altering East Cobb State Senate lines
- Proposed Congressional map would redraw East Cobb lines
- Ga. special legislative session to redraw electoral maps
- McCormick closes district office due to ‘serious threats’
- Richardson advisor declares intent for Cobb Commission campaign
- Ga. redistricting maps thrown out; special session called
- East Cobb News Politics & Elections page
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