Even if the law didn’t require redistricting every decade, Georgia and Georgians should benefit from doing so this year. In the last 10 years, according to census figures, the state has become the nation’s ninth largest, added more than 1 million residents and gained an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Redrawing the state’s legislative and congressional district lines to reflect those changes should provide greater voter equity. It won’t, however, forestall the political bickering that always accompanies the redistricting process.
This year is no different, though the cast of characters involved has changed. Redistricting is always the province of the political party in charge of the state. For as far back as most Georgians remember, that’s meant the Democrats, who have used that control to move boundary lines to suit their party’s real and perceived political needs. Republicans, of course, complained about the unfairness of it all, but could do little to affect the outcome. Now the shoe is on the other foot.
Republicans now control the redistricting process. The new district lines included in their proposal — released for public scrutiny on Friday — predictably brought howls of protest from Democrats, who complained about the unfairness of it all. Everyone — Democrats and Republicans and other interested groups — will attempt to sort it all out in a special session of the General Assembly that begins today.
As is usually the case in these matters, the proposed map is likely to change a bit here and there, though wholesale change is improbable. If the proposed maps remain pretty much the same, some things are clear. South Georgia, which has lost population in the last decade, will lose seats and political clout. North Georgia, where the bulk of the state’s population growth has taken place, will gain both seats and influence. Making those changes, of course, will cause some upheaval.
If the new district lines stand, it will require some incumbent members of the legislature to face one another in upcoming state races. That’s where the politics in the redistricting process comes into play. The proposed new districts, for example, would require white Democrats to run against black colleagues in four of the 10 races where Democrat would face Democrat. There are a few new districts, too, where incumbent Republicans would have to face one another. That’s not unusual. Redistricting 10, 20 and 30 years ago prompted similar match-ups.