Black caucus, Democrats react to passage of Republican-drawn district and congressional maps

Georgia’s special legislative session to redistrict voting maps awaits just one more House vote before the court-imposed deadline.

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled the current districts violated federal law by diluting Black voting power and ordered them redrawn by Dec. 6.

In presenting the proposed House District map, Sen. Shelley Echols (R-Gainesville), chair of the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, echoed what she and House leadership have pushed all along that the maps comply with the federal court mandate.

“This plan increases the number of majority-Black districts from the prior plan based on the numbers,” Echols said. “And, it adds the required the majority-Black district in metro Atlanta as required by Judge Jones.”

The Senate voted 32-21 to give final passage to the new state House map, then debated the congressional map before approving it in a 32-22 vote along party lines.

Caption

A few protesters gathered at the Georgia capitol to speak out against the redistricting maps created by Republicans and approved by the Georgia Senate on Dec. 5, 2023.

Credit: Donna Lowry

The House vote focused solely on the proposed Senate district maps created by Republicans. 

“It looks like to me that y’all want to send these maps back to court,” said Rep. Saira Draper (D-Atlanta). “You are shuffling around Black voters like a deck of cards rather than complying with the Voting Rights Act.”

Draper said voters will face years of “uncertainty and flip-flopping of districts and representation” because of court challenges.

In the end, House Republicans led the approval of the Senate map and won their maps 96-71, preserving their current majority.