A proposed congressional map could pit a former Athens congressman against one of his Republican colleagues if a judge approves it.
Athens gun store owner Andrew Clyde represents the 9th District, which included part of Athens until 2021, when as part of the once-a-decade post-Census redistricting process state legislators placed all of Clarke County within the 10th District, represented by Republican Mike Collins. That wouldn’t change under Republicans’ proposed new map, but the 9th District would include Rep. Rich McCormick’s hometown of Suwanee.
McCormick currently represents the 6th District in the north Atlanta suburbs, which would be shifted to southwest metro Atlanta. There is no requirement that congressmen live in the district they represent, so McCormick could opt to follow his new majority-minority district, challenge Clyde in the 9th or run in the 7th District, currently represented by Democrat Lucy McBath, which would become more conservative. McBath could also opt to change districts rather than face a whiter and more rural electorate.
However, experts told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday that the proposed congressional district map is unlikely to pass muster with U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones. Last month Jones, an Athens native, ordered lawmakers to redraw state House, Senate and congressional districts because the current ones, approved in 2022, violate the Voting Rights Act. He ruled that Georgia should have five additional majority Black House districts around Atlanta and Macon, two more majority Black Senate districts and one extra majority Black congressional district.
A special session for redistricting started Nov. 29, and legislators have until Dec. 8 to give Jones new maps. If he doesn’t approve them, he could appoint a nonpartisan special master to draw the maps.
“This map meets the promise we made when this process began: It fully complies with the judge’s order, while also following Georgia’s traditional redistricting principles,” House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) said in a news release. “We look forward to passing this fair redistricting plan.”
Republican state legislators complied with the ruling by pitting white and Black incumbent Democrats against each other in the state Senate, but could lose two or three seats in the House as a result, creating new majority Black districts. The new congressional seat could be a Democratic pickup as well, depending on where it ends up. Regardless, Republicans are still expected to maintain large majorities in both the state House and Senate, as well as hold on to at least eight of Georgia’s 14 congressional districts (they currently have nine).
Focusing on Atlanta and Macon, lawmakers in neither party have shown any interest in revisiting state House and Senate lines that divide Clarke County. Heavily Democratic Athens is currently represented by four state reps—one Democrat and three Republicans, only two of whom live in Athens—and two Republican state senators. Many Athens residents testified during redistricting hearings in 2021 that those lines dilute Athenians’ voices because their representatives are more beholden to the conservative surrounding counties.Republican legislators passed the three maps Tuesday over the objections of Democrats. Now Gov. Brian Kemp has until Dec. 8 to sign them and send them to Jones for review.
Help for the Homeless
The nonprofit Family Promise of Athens received a $400,000 grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund that it will use to assist with housing barriers like security deposits, car repairs and employment expenses for families experiencing homelessness, as well as progress toward its goal of doubling shelter capacity by the end of next year. It is the largest grant the organization has ever received.
“This gift is a catalyst that will serve so many hard-working families in Athens,” Madison Sanders, executive director of Family Promise of Athens, said in a news release. “Athens is experiencing an affordable housing crisis that has priced out many families from finding housing options that meet their needs. With this funding, we will be able to increase our services for families to support them on their path to stability.”
Paging Russell Edwards
A new report from Environment Georgia found that gas-powered lawn care equipment like mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers and chainsaws were responsible for 864 tons of harmful fine particulate pollution in 2020—the equivalent of what more than 9 million cars produce in a year. Fine particulates are microscopic particles that lodge in the lungs and can cause asthma attacks and cancer, among other health problems. Such equipment also produced 2,520 tons of nitrogen oxide—and ingredient in smog—and more than 1 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Former commissioner Edwards pushed for a ban on gas-powered lawn equipment before rolling off the board last year, but his colleagues opted to merely phase it out from county government use instead. How’s that going? Central Services Director Andrew Saunders told Flagpole that, a year into the initiative, staff are still testing various models of electric equipment.
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