Dem
51
GOP
49
The Republican-controlled Georgia state legislature drew a map that split up a majority Black district. The courts ruled that this violated the Voting Rights Act. So the Republicans tried again. This time they split up a multiracial district, GA-07, currently occupied by Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), and created a majority-Black district west of Atlanta. McBath's district is D+10, so although a Black candidate, like McBath, is not a shoo-in, a Black candidate has a decent chance. The net effect was to get rid of a district that a Black candidate could likely win and replace it with a district a Black candidate could certainly win, but to leave the rest of the extreme gerrymander unchanged. Naturally, there was a lawsuit about it.
Yesterday federal judge Steve Jones, who is Black and an appointee of Barack Obama, gave the legislature a win, at least on round 1. Democrats claimed that by dismantling a mixed-race district, Republicans had violated the VRA. Jones ruled that since the gutted district was not majority Black, the new map did not technically violate the VRA. However, he noted that the Democrats could bring back the case if they formulated their case differently. They will almost certainly do that.
Meanwhile, McBath said that she will run in the new district. It is a bit early to see who else will run there in either party. (V)