# Redistricting in Georgia (U.S. state)

Redistricting in Georgia is the process by which boundaries are redrawn for federal congressional and state legislative districts. Since statehood, redistricting in Georgia has been carried out by the Georgia General Assembly. It has historically been highly controversial. Critics have accused legislators of attempting to protect themselves from competition by gerrymandering districts.

## History

Elections in Georgia :
Federal government
Presidential elections
1788–89
1792
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Presidential primaries
Democratic
2000
2004
2008
2016
2020
2024
Republican
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
U.S. Senate elections
1789
1792
1793
1794
1795
1798
1799
1800
1804
1806
1813
1816
1818
1819
1823
1824
1825
1828
1834
1837
1840
1843
1846
1847
1852
1858
1867
1871
1873
1877
1879
1883
1885
1888
1891
1894
1896
1900
1902
1909
1913
1914
1918
1920
1924
1926
1930
1932
1936
1938
1942
1944
1948
1950
1954
1956
1960
1962
1966
1968
1972
1974
1978
1980
1984
1986
1990
1992
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2008
2010
2014
2016
2020
2022
2026
2028
U.S. House elections
1789
1791
1792
1794
1796
1798
1800
1802
1804
1806
1808
1810
1812
1814
1816
1818
1820
1822
1824
1826
1828
1830
1832
1834
1836
1838
1840
1842
1844
1846
1848
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
6
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
4
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Special elections
Senate
1796
1806
1807
1809
1813
1816
1818
1819
1821
1824
1828
1829
1833
1835
1837
1845
1880
1882
1894
1907
1911
1914
1922
1932
1972
2000
2020
House
At-large
1801
1802
1803
1806
1812
1813
1816
1819
1824
1829
1831
1835
1836
1837
1841
1843
1844
1st
1792
1827
1879
1906
1931
2nd
1827
1910
1913
1953
3rd
1846
1896
1932
4th
1871
1872
1918
1939
5th
1870
1929
1946
1977
2020
6th
1870
1932
1999
2017
7th
1958
1983
8th
1873
1882
1917
1940
9th
1875
1877
2010
10th
1895
1933
2007 :
State government
State elections
2000
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Gubernatorial elections
1825
1827
1829
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1868
1871 (sp)
1872
1876
1880
1882
1883 (sp)
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1946
1948
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2026
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections
1990
1994
1998
2002
2018
2022
Secretary of State elections
2018
2022
Attorney General elections
2014
2018
2022
State Senate elections
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
House of Representatives elections
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Judicial elections
2024
Special elections
Governor
1871
1883
1948 :
Ballot measures
2004
Flag referendum
Amendment 1
2020
Amendment 1
Amendment 2
Tax referendum :
Atlanta
City elections
2009
Mayoral elections
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021 :
Savannah
Mayoral elections
2015
2019
2023 :
Mableton
Mayoral elections
2023 :
vte :

### 20th century

The decisions in Gray v. Sanders and the trio of "one person, one vote" decisions (Baker v. Carr (1962), Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964)) led to the redrawing of congressional and legislative districts.
The speakership of Tom Murphy was directly influential in the redistricting cycles of 1980, 1990 and 2000, in which he worked to protect the Democratic majority from growing rural and suburban gains by Republicans through gerrymandering. Murphy acted to redraw the congressional seats of high-profile Republicans Newt Gingrich (1991), and Bob Barr (2001), in what was viewed as typical of his "hardball" application of political power.

### 21st century
#### 2000s

Democrats retained control of the redistricting process after the 2000 United States census, and Murphy led the redrawing of the maps to retain Democratic majorities. Republicans sued against the maps on Voting Rights Act grounds. Following the 2004 election, which saw Republicans gain a majority in both houses for the first time in Georgia history, redrew legislative and congressional maps in 2005 after federal judges struck down both maps which were drawn by the 146th legislature as violating the one person, one vote guarantee of the U.S. Constitution, resulting in a reshuffling of districts which took effect in the next legislature which shored up Republican gains in both chambers and in Congress.

#### 2010s

Georgia gained a 14th congressional district after the 2010 Census and redistricting cycle. With Republicans in control of redistricting for the first time after a census, the legislature set about to redraw the map to maximize and strengthen Republican gains in congressional and legislative maps.

#### 2020s
##### Congressional and legislative

After the 2020 Census and redistricting cycle, Republicans retained control of the redistricting process for congressional and legislative maps, and also intervened to redraw maps of several county commissions over objections from local elected officials. The 6th congressional district was redrawn to be much more Republican-friendly than in the previous decade, resulting in Democratic incumbent Lucy McBath switching to run for the redrawn 7th congressional district held by Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bourdeaux. In addition, Democrat Sanford Bishop's 2nd congressional district was redrawn to include more of Columbus-Muscogee County and extended to northern Houston County, including Warner Robins, but was also separated from much of the land bordering Florida, which went to the 8th congressional district held by Republican Austin Scott.
Litigation ensued over the racial distribution of the resulting maps. On October 26, 2023, federal district judge Steve C. Jones ruled that one district in the U.S. House in Metro Atlanta region, as well as two Georgia Senate and five Georgia House districts in the Atlanta, Macon and Warner Robins metropolitan areas violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and ordered the legislature to redraw all three maps to create new majority-minority districts. The same day, a special session was called by Governor Brian Kemp for November 28, 2023 to redraw the maps.

##### Public Service Commission

After the 2020 election for the Georgia Public Service Commission, in which African-American Democrat Daniel Blackman was defeated in a run-off by District 4 incumbent Lauren "Bubba" McDonald (who won the most total votes of all three Republican statewide candidates on the runoff ballot, while both David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler lost their runoffs for U.S. Senate on the same ballot), a lawsuit was filed against the PSC election method by Georgia Conservation Voters, alleging that the method violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Other litigation occurred in 2022 regarding the residency requirement, with Gwinnett County resident Patty Durand having qualified for District 2 as a Democrat prior to the passage of legislation which redistricted Gwinnett County from District 2 to District 4. Following the passage of the legislation, Durand switched her residency into a county further into the newly drawn District 2. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger moved to remove Durand from the Democratic primary ballot for 2022 for residency, but was blocked by a state judge. Durand alleged that Gwinnett County was moved out of the district in order to deny a challenge to Republican incumbent Tim Echols. Other litigation was filed after the Democratic primary for District 3, in which Chandra Farley challenged Democratic nominee Shelia Edwards' residency in District 3.
On August 5, 2022, Judge Steven D. Grimberg ruled in Rose v. Raffensperger that the requirement that candidates live in a district but be elected at-large statewide diluted Black voters' voting power and ordered Raffensperger to cancel the 2022 election until either a new election method is devised by the General Assembly or, failing that, devised by the court. The state appealed the ruling to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which stayed Grimberg's ruling and restored the election to the ballot. On August 19, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a preliminary ruling vacating the 11th Circuit's stay of the Grimberg ruling, delaying the 2022 elections for PSC and directing the 11th Circuit to review the ruling; the Georgia Secretary of State's office did not contest the ruling, delaying the elections to an indefinite date.