At a testy committee hearing on Wednesday, Georgia House Republicans approved new Cobb County commission maps that would shore up two conservative seats, while potentially forcing an incumbent Black Democrat out of office two years before her term ends.
The map’s sponsor, state Rep. John Carson (R-Marietta), said the new district lines would maintain the existing political split of the commission, which is controlled 3-2 by Democrats. And, he insisted race was not a factor in how the districts were redrawn.
“I believe this reflects the political composition of the county,” Carson said.
But Democrats and Black voting rights groups saw a more sinister motive behind the maps.
“It’s classic racism 101,” said Rich Pellegrino, the field director for the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which held a rally in Marietta ahead of the vote. “Black people have voted in record numbers in Cobb and Georgia and that is a threat” (to Republicans).
Voting maps are redrawn every 10 years following the U.S. Census in a process known as redistricting. Traditionally, the state legislature has deferred to the legislative delegation from each county to draw local maps. In Cobb, Democrats lead the delegation and have offered a map that makes minimal changes to the current districts.
But Republicans state lawmakers bypassed the usual process in order to push through maps that could give GOP candidates an advantage in local elections. On Wednesday, the committee also approved new districts for Cobb schools over Democratic objections.
The proposed commission map would create two conservative districts with white supermajorities in a county that is about half white and half racial minorities. It packs Black and Hispanic voters into the other two districts, which Democrats say has the effect of diluting their political power.
It also could prematurely end the term of District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson, a Democrat who represents southeast Cobb. The Republican map draws her into a conservative district held by Republican JoAnn Birrell. And under county law, Richardson could be forced to vacate her seat two years early if she no longer lives in the district.
Carson said he didn’t know any of the commissioners’ home addresses when he proposed the map. “There was no targeting here,” he said.
The current map essentially divides the county into four geographic quadrants, centered near Marietta. The chair is elected countywide. The Republican map would make the I-75 corridor its own district, dividing the Democratic cities of Smyrna and Marietta down the middle.
Tempers flared throughout the hearing, with Democrats complaining that Republicans refused to work with them, and Cobb Republicans casting themselves as the true majority in the Cobb delegation, because some of the delegation’s Democrats live across the county line.
At one point, state Rep. Darlene Taylor, the Republican committee chair, cut the microphone of Rep. David Wilkerson (D-Powder Springs) and called for security after he refused to stop speaking.
“Right now, I’m just disgusted with this chamber,” Wilkerson said.
If the map ultimately passes the General Assembly and signed into law, a lawsuit is all but assured. Courts have thrown out the legislature’s Cobb commission maps each of the last two decades for running afoul of voting rights laws.
About the Author
