New battle lines drawn over Georgia’s political maps
Today’s newsletter highlights
- Trump floats a pause on the federal gas tax.
- Six candidates qualify for special election in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District.
- Kemp vetoes bills that would have doled out more than $235M in tax breaks over the next five years.
Redistricting stakes
Gov. Brian Kemp just put Georgia on the brink of another bruising fight over voting rights and political power.
Kemp’s call for a June 17 special session was expected on one front: Lawmakers face a July 1 deadline to fix a voting-system mess.
But Kemp also ordered lawmakers to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative maps for the 2028 election, a move that could help Republicans flip at least one U.S. House seat and strengthen their hold on the General Assembly.
Kemp resisted pressure from MAGA loyalists to move even faster, saying it’s too late to remake the maps for 2026. That’s little solace to seething Democrats furious he’s moving forward with plans to redraw the 2028 boundaries now, while Republicans still control the Governor’s Mansion.
“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,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock said. “I will fight this with everything I have.”
There’s a lot to unpack. Let’s walk through it.
Kemp’s take. The governor said late Wednesday he viewed the Supreme Court decision weakening a pillar of the Voting Rights Act as a mandate for change. “We’re going to have to redraw the maps. It’s not a matter of if, but when,” he said, downplaying Democratic threats to challenge the process. “They haven’t seen the maps yet, so they might want to wait and see what the Legislature does.”
Timing. Facing a July 1 deadline to address the voting-system conflict, Kemp had a narrow window. He couldn’t call lawmakers back before Tuesday’s primary without yanking candidates off the trail, nor could he interrupt the run-up to the June 16 runoffs. So he picked the very next day. By the way, that also drops lawmakers back under the Gold Dome as Atlanta braces for the World Cup crush.
Pushback. Democrats are already mounting a counteroffensive. House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley is promoting a constitutional amendment to ban partisan gerrymandering. It won’t pass, but it gives Democrats a clear counterpoint.
“Nobody has said our maps are illegal, and the speed and urgency that Republicans have moved to redraw maps to lock-in single-party rule, indefinitely, shows why the Voting Rights Act was needed in the first place,” she said.
Politics. Democrats are predicting the move will energize voters, particularly Black voters at the heart of the party’s coalition. Candidates for top office quickly condemned the plan and sharpened their voting-rights platforms.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms unveiled a Georgia Voting Rights Act that would create state standards for redistricting, replace the State Election Board, add protections for election workers, and other major changes to voting in Georgia she said she’d push as governor. She also said she would veto any map that redraws the 2nd Congressional District to reduce its minority makeup.
“I’d veto anything that’s diluting fair representation,” she said,
Republicans up and down the ballot celebrated Kemp’s decision. “You can draw maps based on R versus D. And that’s the political process,” Attorney General Chris Carr, a GOP candidate for governor, told 11Alive. “Sometimes Democrats will win, other times Republicans win. But to say you should be able to use it just simply and solely based on race is just wrong.”
What’s next. Mapmakers are almost certainly already sketching drafts. The rural southwest Georgia seat held by U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop is the most obvious target. But Republicans could also look toward one of the four Democratic-held metro Atlanta seats.
That carries its own risk. Push too far in a state this competitive, and a map drawn for advantage in 2028 could become a liability later.
Things to know
Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:
- A new AJC poll shows one in four likely Democratic primary voters are not confident the elections will be conducted fairly, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
- Shanette Williams had no history of political activism before her daughter, Amber Nicole Thurman, died of abortion-related complications. Now she stands side-by-side with gubernatorial candidate Jason Esteves’ campaigning against the state’s restrictive abortion law that she says killed her daughter, the AJC’s Riley Bunch reports.
- After years of defeats at the Georgia Capitol, the sports betting industry is placing big bets on pro-legalization candidates in the midterms, Greg Bluestein reports.
About those tax breaks
Our AJC colleague David Wickert reported last week that for every $1 dollar the Republican-controlled Legislature eliminated in corporate tax breaks, they approved $3 in new tax breaks.
Kemp must have read his story. On Tuesday, Kemp vetoed six bills that would have doled out more than $235 million in tax breaks over the next five years. Kemp blocked:
- $103.5 million for historic properties
- $49.8 million for a federal work opportunity tax credit
- $8.6 million for a class III railroad track maintenance.
- $23.3 million for fine arts performances and museum exhibitions.
- $50 million for reforestation.
For every veto, Kemp gave essentially the same explanation: “The General Assembly failed to account for this loss of revenue in the appropriations process.”
Nice Digs
Speaking of budgets, when Kemp cut $300 million in state spending in the name of fiscal discipline this week, he did it across the street from construction of a gleaming new office building for state lawmakers set to open next year.
The eight-story building will have expanded office spaces for lawmakers, an interior courtyard and a $10 million skybridge to access the Capitol without walking down to street level to get there.
Kemp approved money for the building in 2024 as a part of appropriation upgrading the entire Capitol complex. The price tag for the makeover, which even included new gold for the famous dome, was $400 million.
Voting overhaul
Kemp signaled support for a House measure that would push back Georgia’s deadline for changing its voting system to 2028, rather than force a rushed overhaul.
“The House took a good step during the session, the Senate just never took the legislation up. In my opinion, that’s a good place to start,” he said after a campaign stop Wednesday.
His message: slow down, set rules and give counties time.
“When I was secretary of state, when we changed the voting system, we passed a bill that set out how we would do the procurement, how we would decide what system we went to,” Kemp said. “We gave plenty of time for the procurement, for the implementation, for local elections officials to deal with that.”
“That’s how the process is supposed to work,” he added, “and that’s what I hope comes out of the legislative session.”
Gas tax
President Donald Trump has floated pausing the federal gas tax as prices at the pump remain over $4 a gallon on average in Georgia.
The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel. It’s unclear if the suspension will happen, the AJC’s Amy Wenk and Tia Mitchell report.
Trump cannot pass a gas tax holiday on his own. And congressional Republicans do seem more open now that the president has floated a suspension. But Democrat-led bills to do the same thing were introduced in March and haven’t been considered.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s pause on the state gas tax — 33 cents per gallon for gasoline and 37 cents per gallon for diesel — is scheduled to end next week.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we break down Kemp’s final bill-signing deadline and why his decisions offered a window into how he wants to leave office.
You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Special election
Four Democrats and two Republicans have qualified to compete in the July special election to determine who will serve the remainder of the late U.S. Rep. David Scott’s term representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District.
- Everton Blair, the former Gwinnett County School Board chair who was already competing in the Democratic primary for a full two-year term.
- Tony Brown, who ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in Henry County in 2020 and coroner in 2024.
- Caesar Gonzales, a Republican who lost to Scott in the general election in 2022 and also ran for the seat in 2020, losing in the GOP primary.
- Carlos Moore, a Democrat who initially said he wanted to run in the primary for a two-year term but later chose not to qualify in that race.
- Fayth Park, a Clayton County resident running as a Republican.
- Marcye Scott, Scott’s daughter and political newcomer who is running as a Democrat.
Other high profile candidates who qualified in next week’s Democratic primary for the full term chose not to compete in the special election. They include state Rep. Jasmine Clark, state Sen. Emanuel Jones and reality TV star Heavenly Kimes.
Today in Washington
- Trump’s official visit to China continues with more meetings with President Xi Jinping.
- The House will vote on legislation related to public safety and a war powers resolution limiting strikes in Iran.
- The Senate will vote on more Trump nominations and could consider a measure blocking lawmakers from being paid during government shutdowns.
Big crypto cash
Protect Progress, the pro-crypto PAC, is working hard to promote Clark for Georgia’s 13th congressional district in the open Democratic primary.
It’s one of several Democratic primaries in the country where Big Tech is tipping the money scales. The group has now plowed a whopping $4.2 million into the race to support Clark, with millions of dollars of TV ads and mailers blanketing the metro Atlanta district.
What did Clark do to get the attention of Marc Andreessen and other tech titans who bankroll the PAC?
“We have no control, and legally no say, in what any outside group may do in this race,” Jake Field, Clark’s campaign manager, has said. This week, he added, “I don’t have anything new for you.”
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- Michael Rafshoon, a Democratic political consultant who is now a law student at Georgia State University.
- Michael Waller, executive director of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Before you go
Our eagle-eyed readers watching C-SPAN on Wednesday noticed a familiar face as Trump, Elon Musk and Tim Cook landed in Beijing for a weeklong summit in China. Standing on the tarmac to greet the American delegation was former Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who is now Trump’s ambassador to China.
That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider information to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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