Georgia governor won’t redraw congressional maps this year — but might do it for 2028
by Mary McCue Bell · The Washington TimesGeorgia Gov. Brian Kemp refused to cancel the state’s May 19 primary to implement new congressional maps following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down enforced racial gerrymandering.
The Republican governor said it’s too late to draw new districts for the 2026 midterm elections, but he is considering calling a special session for the legislature to craft new maps for the 2028 elections.
With the primary less than three weeks away, Mr. Kemp said that there is no time to redraw congressional boundaries.
“Voting is already underway for the 2026 elections,” Mr. Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But it’s clear that Callais requires Georgia to adopt new electoral maps before the 2028 election cycle.”
He was referring to the Supreme Court ruling this week in Louisiana v. Callais, which rolled back the part of the Voting Rights Act that allowed minority voters to sue to get majority-minority congressional districts drawn when existing maps diluted their voting power.
Some Georgia Republicans, including preferred candidates, are urging the governor to bring lawmakers back to Atlanta to redraw district lines that favor the GOP. They know it’s all but certain that passing new maps before the primaries and midterms is impossible. Instead, they are focused on reconfiguring the congressional map before the next presidential election in 2028.
SEE ALSO: Louisiana suspends House primaries in wake of Supreme Court’s racial gerrymandering ruling
Mr. Kemp’s term is up at the end of this year. The state’s GOP lawmakers want to get the new map done before Democrats have a shot at winning the Governor’s Mansion.
Mr. Kemp said the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais “restores fairness to our redistricting process and allows states to pass electoral maps that reflect the will of the voters, not the will of federal judges.”
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Other states are considering redistricting because of the ruling, adding to a rare spate of mid-decade redistricting ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
President Trump kicked off the redistricting battle by prodding Texas to redraw its maps, hoping to give Republicans five more seats. California countered with a new map designed to boost Democrats, and a handful of other states followed.
The Supreme Court ruling opened the door for more states to redraw their maps.
Mr. Trump and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican running for governor of Tennessee, lobbied her state’s governor to start the redistricting process.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, on Thursday postponed the state’s May 16 congressional primaries to give the legislature time to redraw the congressional map.
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• Mary McCue Bell can be reached at mbell@washingtontimes.com.