The state Senate’s map of proposed new congressional districts puts all of Athens in the 10th District and shifts Rep. Andrew Clyde out of the 9th District he currently represents.
On the Senate’s proposed map, Clyde’s home of Jackson County would be in the 10th District, which will be an open seat in 2022 as Rep. Jody Hice is running for Georgia secretary of state.
Members of Congress are only required to live in the state, but not the district, they represent. Clyde would face the choice of running in mostly unfamiliar territory in the 10th or leaving himself open to attacks of carpetbagging.
Both districts would remain solidly Republican under the Senate’s plan. The GOP would likely win nine of 14 seats, up from the eight they currently hold. The map makes the 6th District more Republican and endangers Rep. Lucy McBath by swapping parts of Cobb and Dekalb counties for conservative Forsyth County. The other metro Atlanta swing district, the 7th, represented by Carolyn Bourdeaux, would turn solidly blue.
Also of interest: The map moves Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s hometown of Cassville in Bartow County out of the 11th District and into the 14th, currently represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Senate map is likely to change after the House weights in. Both chambers are holding a special session in November to approve new House, Senate, congressional and local government districts using population data from the 2020 Census.
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