ATLANTA — Newton County's part of the heavily Democratic 4th Congressional District will be reduced significantly if the General Assembly approves a proposed map released by Republican state lawmakers Wednesday.
House and Senate Republicans released a proposed map that moves north and southwest Newton County from the heavily Democratic 4th Congressional District into the heavily Republican 10th Congressional District.
The Georgia General Assembly has been meeting in special session for two weeks as lawmakers redraw legislative and Congressional boundaries in accordance with new 2020 U.S. Census population data.
Late last week and early this week, lawmakers passed new state House and Senate maps amid protests from Democrats that the maps were drawn in secret and without enough time for public comment.
On Wednesday, legislative Democrats and civil and voting rights advocates criticized the Republican congressional map at House and Senate committee hearings as ignoring communities of interest in favor of giving the GOP a partisan advantage.
The proposed Congressional district map released Wednesday will bring most of Newton County's geographic area into the 10th District represented by U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro.
Most of the cities of Covington and Oxford and all of Porterdale will remain in the 4th District represented by U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia. A slight majority of Newton voters have selected Democratic presidential candidates in every election since 2008.
Janel Green, who is the Georgia Democratic Party's 4th Congressional District chair, said transfer of parts of Newton County to the 10th District is part of an effort to remove reliably Democratic precincts from the 6th Congressional District to make it difficult for U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Roswell, to win re-election.
"It's too bad people in Newton County are being used as pawns in gerrymandering," Green said Wednesday. "They've had confidence in Congressman Johnson for 10 years and they're going to lose that."
Green said she was a "big fan" of drawing districts that better reflect the current demographic and political makeup of Metro Atlanta and Georgia following Democratic 2020 election victories that showed the state's voters were basically split between the two parties.
A first draft of the Congressional district map released in late September kept both Congressional districts in Newton County roughly in the same locations set after the 2010 Census.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said Wednesday that House and Senate Republicans “released a proposed map that reflects Georgia’s growing, diverse population, respects jurisdictional lines and communities of interest, and conforms to applicable legal standards including the Voting Rights Act.”
“This map will now go through the legislative process in both the House and the Senate, which will include public testimony and debate in both chambers," Ralston said.
“Unlike the unconstitutional maps drawn by a Democratic majority in 2001, we have sought to plan for Georgia’s future rather than cling to its past. And we have done so in a manner that has been thorough, transparent and inclusive.
"That process has already included 11 hearings, more than 20 hours of public testimony and an online portal that has received more than 1,000 comments."
Republican lawmakers' proposed Congressional map appears to make McBath’s 6th Congressional District in north Metro Atlanta less friendly to Democrats by drawing in more white voters, while U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux’s 7th District in Gwinnett County remains a minority-majority district.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s 2nd district also appears to have been drawn to include more white voters, which could make the southwest Georgia district more competitive for the GOP.
Capitol Beat News Service contributed to this report.
