Just as you may have been getting used to having two Congressional districts in Hall County, Governor Brian Kemp announced on Wednesday a special legislative session to consider redrawing Georgia’s political maps ahead of the 2028 election cycle, but this year’s mid-term elections will not be affected.
The governor’s order convenes the General Assembly to a special session under the Gold Dome at 2:00 June 17.
Kemp’s decision follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars race as a factor in redistricting and Georgia joins several other states in quickly acting to redraw the maps.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said Wednesday he would “fight this with everything I have.”
“There is an extreme movement in this country that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, even if it means stripping representation away from millions,” Warnock wrote in an online post.
It hasn’t been that long since a redistricting put part of Hall County in the 7th District with the rest of it remaining in the 9th.
Meanwhile, Republican senators in Louisiana advanced a plan Wednesday to eliminate one of two majority-Black congressional seats before the November midterm elections. Tennessee and Alabama already have acted to implement different House maps that could help Republicans win an additional seat in the November elections, where control of the closely divided chamber is at stake. A similar effort fizzled Tuesday in the South Carolina Senate but may not be over.
(SRN NEWS/AP CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY)