ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia House Republicans on Monday rubber-stamped the new districts that state senators drew for themselves, completing redistricting for both chambers of the General Assembly.
Lawmakers must still tackle district lines for the state’s 14 congressional seats. Senators have proposed a plan, but the House Republican majority has yet to release a proposed map. While the House and Senate deferred to each other on redistricting for their respective chambers, they must agree on a congressional map.
The House voted 96-70, mostly along party lines, to approve Senate Bill 1EX, which draws lines for the 56 Senate districts. The map is projected to keep 59%, or 33, of the Senate’s 56 seats in GOP hands. That’s down from 34 right now. Democrats said again Monday that’s too many, considering President Joe Biden carried Georgia with a narrow majority last year and nonwhite people make up most of the new Georgians added in the past decade.
“We are a 50-50 state; we are a battleground state,” said Rep. Bee Nguyen, an Atlanta Democrat. “We are a swing state. This map tells us a different story. This map creates a 60-40 split with the advantage given to the Republican Party for the next 10 years.”
Legislative & Congressional Reapportionment Committee Chairman Bonnie Rich, a Suwannee Republican, defended both the process for drawing the maps and the outcome.