Cobb Congressional districts

Proposed Congressional map would split Cobb into 4 districts

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Cobb Congressional district map
A Republican-backed proposal would split East Cobb into two Congressional Districts. For details, including precinct breakdowns, click here. Source: Dave’s Redistricting.

UPDATED, MONDAY, NOV. 22, 2021:

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath announced Monday she’s leaving the 6th Congressional District and will be running in the newly drawn 7th District, accusing the GOP of trying “to stop me from speaking truth to power about the gun lobby and Republican Party in Congress.”

ORIGINAL STORY:

Georgia lawmakers are considering proposed maps for the state’s Congressional districts that would add a member of the U.S. House to the Cobb County delegation.

Cobb currently has three representatives, two of them Democrats, including Lucy McBath of the 6th District, which includes most of East Cobb.

But as the legislature continues a special reapportionment session, the latest proposed lines  in the Republican-dominated General Assembly aim to dilute Democratic political gains in Cobb County.

Georgia’s 14-member Congressional delegation currently has eight Republicans and six Democrats, and in recent elections Cobb has become a major metro Atlanta political battleground.

The latest map proposal would split East Cobb into the 6th and the 11th District, which currently is represented by Republican Barry Loudermilk.

On Thursday the Senate reapportionment committee approved the boundaries in a party-line vote, with the full Senate and House still to act on the measure.

Until McBath was first elected in 2018, the 6th had been in Republican hands for 40 years, and whose conservative representatives included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, now-retired U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson and Tom Price.

Earlier drafts by GOP lawmakers took the strongly Democratic north and central DeKalb out of the 6th.

The version introduced this week would include Northeast Cobb, North Fulton, eastern Cherokee, much of Forsyth County, a slice of Gwinnett County and all of Dawson County.

Those are strong Republican areas, as is much of the 11th. Loudermilk, who hails from Cartersville, would retain all of his home Bartow County, most of Cherokee and Cobb County, including North Cobb, Marietta, some of Smyrna-Vinings and southeast Cobb.

Those areas currently in the 6th that would shift to the 11th are parts of East Cobb closest to the city of Marietta and that have been trending or leaning Democratic in recent elections.

You can find more details by clicking here; it’s an independent site called Dave’s Redistricting and shows precinct breakdowns and other data.

The only proposed district in Cobb that appears to be reliably Democratic is the 13th, currently represented by David Scott, and that would include Smyrna and South Cobb.

But the new map would take out parts of south and west Cobb that also have been strongly Democratic and have large numbers of minority voters.

Instead, the Republican map would place that area—in and around Powder Springs and Austell—into the 14th district.

It’s considered the most conservative district in Georgia, and includes most of the northwest parts of the state and Paulding County.

That district is represented by first-term Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s become a national figure for her strong support for former President Donald Trump and making fiery speeches and public statements on a variety of issues.

Greene initially filed to run in 2020 in the 6th District, but switched when the 14th became an open seat. McBath unseated former U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in 2018 and defeated her in a rematch last year.

Several Republicans have announced their candidacies for the 6th District, but qualifying isn’t until March 2022.

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