Georgia’s Republican legislative leaders rejected Gov. Brian Kemp’s call to redraw the state’s congressional and state legislative district maps during a special session that convened on June 17, citing pending litigation and the need for more time to evaluate the legal landscape after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. House Speaker Jon Burns sent Kemp a letter hours before the session was scheduled to begin, writing that “changes to Georgia’s maps should take place only when members of the General Assembly and citizens have been given ample opportunity to gather the facts, provide input, and engage in meaningful discussion.” Senate President Pro Tempore Larry Walker III echoed Burns, saying: “We believe it would be wise to allow the judicial process to further develop in other states and evaluate how courts rule on newly-adopted district maps elsewhere.”
Kemp, who called the special session on May 13 and had sought new maps for the 2028 election cycle, pushed back in a statement, arguing that Georgia’s current maps, which were drawn in 2023 under a federal court order to create additional majority-Black districts, are now unconstitutional under Callais. “I do not believe there is reason to delay the apportionment process, especially with the legislature already convening,” Kemp said, though he acknowledged that redistricting is “the responsibility of the General Assembly.”
The decision came against the backdrop of significant public pressure; hundreds of voting rights advocates filled the Capitol on June 17, chanting “Black voters matter,” in a mobilization organized by civil rights organizations, labor unions, and community groups. Fair Fight Action, the voting rights organization, estimates that roughly 26 state legislative seats with large minority populations currently held by Democrats could have flipped if the maps were redrawn. Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones said the public response was decisive: “Make no mistake, it was the people of Georgia who put pressure on the General Assembly and let them know they did not appreciate the attempt to steal these elections.” Georgia’s existing maps, which include five of 14 congressional districts with a majority- or plurality-nonwhite electorate, remain in effect, but Republicans did not rule out revisiting redistricting later this year or in 2027. Whether the legislature takes up redistricting again before the 2028 elections may depend on the outcome of November’s midterm elections and the direction of litigation in other states applying the Callais standard.
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