Republicans say new Georgia voting districts comply with court ruling, but Democrats disagree

State Sen. Shelly Echols, R-Gainesville speaks on behalf of SB1EX, the Senate redistricting act, in the Senate Chambers during a Special Session at the Georgia State Capitol, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican lawmakers have approved new voting districts for themselves, but Democrats say the proposals are still racially discriminatory against Black voters.

Friday, the state House voted 101-77 to approve a new House map and the Senate voted 32-23 to approve a new Senate map.

The House map now goes to the Senate for more work, while the Senate map goes to the House. Typically, each chamber has taken a hands-off approach to the map that the other chamber has drawn for itself.

Lawmakers were called into special session after U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled in October that Georgia’s congressional, state Senate and state House violated federal law by diluting Black voting power. Jones mandated Black majorities in one additional congressional district, two additional state Senate districts and five additional state House districts.

Georgia state Rep. Mack Jackson, D-Sandersville, looks at a map of proposed state House districts before a House hearing, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. State lawmakers were ordered to redraw Georgia’s legislative and congressional districts after a federal judge ruled some illegally diluted Black voting strength. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Republicans haven’t yet unveiled their congressional plan. They said in debate Friday that their legislative plans will meet the terms of Jones’ order.

“We’re going to comply with Judge Jones’ order,” said House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican. “We’re going to create new Black-majority districts. That’s what we were told to do, that’s what this map does. I feel confident with this map and we’ll move forward.”

Democrats though, are predicting that Jones will find the Republican plans are still illegal and draw his own maps. In the Senate, they say Republicans don’t do enough to fix the problems Jones identified in suburbs south of Atlanta, including two districts untouched that Jones identified as illegal. In the House, Democrats argue that changes to some districts where a coalition of different nonwhite groups has elected Democrats are also illegal.

Redistricting Georgia

“You can’t obscure the truth,” said Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, a Stone Mountain Democrat. “The Republican proposal dilutes Black voting power just like the 2021 Republican proposal does.”

Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Chairwoman Shelly Echols, a Gainesville Republican, rejected that claim.

“The judge required that we draw two additional majority-Black districts in south metro Atlanta and that is exactly what we have done,” Echols told senators.

Some Democrats had hoped the new maps would mean gains that would narrow Republican majorities, but maps advanced by Republicans would likely maintain a 33-23 GOP advantage in the state Senate. Republicans could lose two seats in their 102-78 House majority because of new Black-majority districts. A congressional district map has yet to be proposed, but Republicans currently hold a 9-5 majority in Georgia’s congressional delegation.

In the Senate, Republicans said they drew their map with goal of keeping the 33-23 split. Reapportionment and Redistricting chair Shelly Echols, a Gainesville Republican, said she wanted “to make sure the Senate plan remained balanced between the parties as it was in 2021.”

Those Republican decisions mean two Senate Democrats who now represent white-majority districts will instead represent Black-majority districts. But Republicans touted that no incumbents were drawn into the same district.

That’s unlike the House plan, which draws together one pair of Republicans and three pairs of Democrats, including House Minority Whip Sam Park of Lawrenceville, the second-ranking Democrat in the House. Democrats tried to offer an amendment in committee on Friday to move Park to a different district, but House Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee Chairman Rob Leverett, an Elberton Republican, did not allow the amendment to go forward because Democrats did not provide maps to committee members showing the change.

With a revised House district map displayed on a large monitor state Rep. Beth Camp, R-Concord, speaks in support of HB1EX in the House Chamber during a Special Session at the Georgia State Capitol, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)