State lawmakers have finished redrawing the maps of the state Legislature. Now they must rewrite the boundaries of the 14 congressional districts.
The new U.S. House districts are expected imminently and the sense we’re getting from Republicans involved is that the final version will resemble the broad contours of an earlier Senate proposal. Namely, that the 7th District is bound to get bluer and the neighboring 6th District redder.
That means U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat who has represented the 6th District since her 2018 victory, could face far more competitive territory in a run for reelection there. And U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux’s district gets friendlier in a general – though possibly more difficult in a primary.
As we’ve noted before, several Democrats have already rumbled about challenging Bourdeaux in a primary. And it might turn McBath from an ally into a rival of Bourdeaux if the two end up running against each other. There is no requirement that House members live in the district where they run, although nearly all do.
No matter their contours, the 6th and 7th districts, along with Sanford Bishop’s 2nd district in Southwest Georgia, will be of intense interest to national campaign committees in Washington-- all looking to push their partisan advantage in the national battle for control of the House in 2022.
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As our AJC colleague Mark Niesse notes, the new legislative maps will have fallout for years to come.
The most vocal arguments against the Senate maps during House debate Monday were to Sen. Michelle Au’s district. Au is the only Asian American woman in the state Senate and represents a Democratic-leaning area in Johns Creek.
But the new map swings her Senate District 48 from a region where 59% of voters backed Joe Biden to an area that supported Donald Trump with 52% of the vote.
The change could also result in lawsuits because the new plan transforms the diverse district from 37% white to 51% white.
Pointing to Au’s new district, Democratic State Rep. Bee Nguyen said Monday, “This map is about diluting the voices of Georgians, specifically the voices of Black and brown Georgians.”
But state Rep. Bonnie Rich, who chaired the House committee effort, said Democrats who vote against the new boundaries were “exercising a dishonest stand based on partisan politics and buzzwords.”
Meanwhile, Democratic state Rep. Josh McLaurin indicated Monday he would run for the newly created state Senate district in north Fulton where he lives. And Democratic state Rep. Beth Moore of Peachtree Corners suggested she could compete for an open Gwinnett-based seat.
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The new maps didn’t shield Republicans entirely. Five GOP House members and three Democrats have been drawn into competitive districts against their peers. If they all seek reelection, half of them would lose in next years’ elections.
Among the paired legislators, Republican Gerald Greene would face Democrat Winfred Dukes in a district that Biden won with 54% of the vote.
Two Democrats, state Reps. Shelly Hutchinson and Rebecca Mitchell, were placed in the same Gwinnett County district. On the Republican side, state Reps. Danny Mathis of Cochran and Robert Pruitt of Eastman are also paired together.
Another, state Rep. James Burchett, said he isn’t afraid of being matched up with his fellow Republican, Dominic LaRiccia.
“This is not about you. This is about the state of Georgia. This is about your constituents,” said Burchett, a Republican from Waycross, in a floor speech last week urging his colleagues to support the new House map.
“I do not relish the opportunity to have to run against one of my colleagues, but I’m able to set it aside because I feel confidently that this is what’s best for us.”
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UNDER THE GOLD DOME, Tuesday, Nov. 16:
* 8:00 a.m.: Committee meetings begin;
* 10:00 a.m.: The House convenes;
* 10:00 a.m.: The Senate gavels in.
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Plenty of Georgia Democrats were on hand at the White House Monday to see President Joe Biden sign the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law.
Among the Georgians spotted in the crowd (or taking selfies): U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, U.S. Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux, Hank Johnson, Lucy McBath and Nikema Williams; Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Rep. Calvin Smyre (a Biden nominee to be Ambassador to the Dominican Republic), state Sen. Michelle Au, and DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson (in his role as president of the National Association of Counties).
Also folded into the bill was Ossoff’s Local Transit Planning Support Act. That bill will increase funding for transit planning in both low-income and low-density areas.
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Tonight is the first televised debate featuring the final two candidates for Atlanta mayor: Felicia Moore and Andre Dickens. The AJC is partnering with The Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting, and City Hall reporter J.D. Capelouto will help ask the questions.
Watch it at 7 p.m. on the AJC’s website, GPB-TV and the Atlanta Press Club Facebook page.
Candidates for Atlanta City Council President and Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large will also debate Tuesday.
Early voting starts on Wednesday.
Read more on the latest developments from the campaigns in Monday’s edition of “The Race for City Hall.”
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Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller - the leading non-Trump-supported Republican candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor - filed legislation to eliminate the state income tax Monday.
In doing so, he one-upped Sen. Burt Jones - the official Trump-supported Republican candidate for lieutenant governor - who has merely called for cutting income taxes, not eliminating them.
“Taxation is theft. Pure and simple,” Miller declared in his press release announcing the bill, which was put out by the taxpayer-funded Senate Press Office.
As our resident budget geek James Salzer noted on Twitter, a little more than half of the state’s revenue last year – about $14 billion, came from personal income taxes during fiscal 2021. That is more than the state spends on K-12 education or health care in a year.
Salzer noted that the Miller bill doesn’t address all of that lost revenue, and when Miller was asked how the state would make up the difference, his campaign noted that the state ran a surplus in 2021. It did, more than $3 billion, a record amount, although surpluses aren’t guaranteed. Miller also did not say what programs the state should cut to make up for the lost $14 billion a year.
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Credit: Nathan Posner
Credit: Nathan Posner
More campaign drama surfaced Monday in the governor’s race, when GOP big wig Randy Evans endorsed the idea of ex-U.S. Sen. David Perdue challenging Gov. Brian Kemp in a GOP primary. Evans’ former boss, Newt Gingrich, made the same suggestion over the weekend.
Evans, the former U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg under Donald Trump, wrote on Facebook that he had a “good meeting” with Kemp after returning from his overseas diplomatic post earlier this year.
“But when I returned to find out what I could do to help, his staff made it absolutely clear that as a Trump appointee/supporter, I was not welcomed,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Campaigns win by addition, not subtraction. I still pray for Brian and Marty everyday.”
Kemp’s camp said that is not remotely true and pointed to many Trump allies in his corner. We’ll also be watching to see whether this internal rift has any impact on Evans’ son Jake, a GOP candidate for the 6th Congressional District.
UPDATE: Hours after the Jolt published, Randy Evans backtracked his criticism and said that he would unequivocally support Kemp in a primary.
“Relationships are steadfast for me and they are here as well.”
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Speaking of Gov. Brian Kemp, we brought you the news Monday that Georgia is nearing a deal to land a Rivian electric vehicle manufacturing and battery plant that could generate thousands of new jobs for the northeastern part of the state.
Kemp has been directly involved in the negotiations, and we won’t be surprised to see the project became a mainstay of his TV ads and campaign stump speech material if the deal is sealed.
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You’ll want to listen to a special edition of the Politically Georgia podcast featuring the voices of Black women.
Tia hosts this edition, with panelists Dawn Montgomery of The Atlanta Voice, ProPublica’s Nicole Carr, and freelance journalist Jewel Wicker. They discuss the Atlanta mayoral runoff, the fall of Kasim Reed, Stacey Abrams’ political future, critical race theory and how Democrats risk support from their base if they fail to deliver on voting rights.
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Former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has mostly stepped out of the public eye, but on Monday night, he posted a tribute to former Sen. Max Cleland, who was buried in a private graveside service earlier in the day.
“U.S. Senator Max Cleland was a brave American and a proud Georgian whose own experiences guided his service to our nation’s veterans,” Isakson wrote on Twitter. “The tributes since his death have been moving, and while he was laid to rest at Georgia National Cemetery today, he will not be forgotten.”
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As always, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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