The Georgia special legislative session almost nobody wanted
Georgia is about to host its first ever World Cup matches, pick Republican candidates for marquee midterm matchups and kick off a special legislative session that could fundamentally alter the state’s political power — all in the same week.
The result is one of the most unusual political moments in recent state history: A fight over political maps unfolding alongside a global sporting event, statewide campaigns and a summer holiday when lawmakers would ordinarily be anywhere but the Capitol.
Democrats and voting rights groups are preparing demonstrations aimed at turning the legislative session, which begins Wednesday, into a national flashpoint over what they cast as a GOP effort to dismantle majority-Black districts in the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement just as the nation celebrates Juneteenth.
Republicans have kept their plans so secret that even many lawmakers have few details. The maps themselves, if they’ve been finalized, are under lock and key. But they argue they have little choice but to overhaul the boundaries.
At the center of it all is a question that even some GOP officials are privately asking: Why are Georgia Republicans willing to risk the political backlash that comes with redrawing maps now?
The short answer is opportunity.
Georgia Republicans already knew they would need to return in a special session after lawmakers adjourned in April without taking action to meet a July 1 deadline to change the way it counts ballots.
That fight seemed easy enough to resolve. Gov. Brian Kemp and other GOP leaders have signaled support for delaying the deadline, leaving the decision to the next governor and a new crop of lawmakers.
Then the U.S. Supreme Court handed Republicans an opening — and a political problem.
In striking down a Louisiana political map in May, the court’s conservative majority weakened the Voting Rights Act and triggered demands from President Donald Trump for Republican-controlled states to immediately redraw political boundaries now. Several have already done so.
In Georgia, Kemp balked at redrawing the districts for the 2026 races, saying it was too late in the process because early voting was already underway.
But doing nothing risked angering Trump and his allies, who were pressing Republican-led states to redraw maps to strengthen the GOP’s chances of retaining control of the House.
At the same time, Kemp was also helping his hand-picked U.S. Senate candidate, former football coach Derek Dooley, navigate a MAGA-tinged primary.
Days later, he struck a middle ground, calling lawmakers back this year to redraw the maps while postponing their implementation until the 2028 election.
“We’re going to have to redraw the maps. It’s not a matter of if, but when,” Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after issuing the order. “And right after the runoff is a good time to do that. Plus, we’ve got to deal with the elections issue.”
‘A bloodbath’
The politics are risky. But Republicans see a chance to lock in advantages for the rest of the decade while they still control state government, a hedge against the possibility that Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms wins the race for governor in November.
Democrats argue Republicans are exploiting a Supreme Court ruling to weaken the voting strength of communities that have become more diverse and increasingly liberal.
“There is no need, no court order that says our maps are currently unconstitutional, that we are required to pass new maps,” said state Rep. Saira Draper, one of the Democratic Party’s experts on election laws.
“The only intent of this is to give the Republican Party maximum political advantage,” she added. “And that’s going to mean a bloodbath for Democrats.”
Voting rights groups are organizing protests and hoping to transform a technical redistricting dispute into a broader fight over representation and political power.
The maps are expected to target at least two Democratic-held U.S. House seats and several more state legislative districts now represented by Democrats.
The Fair Fight political group co-founded by Stacey Abrams estimates that roughly 26 legislative seats with large minority populations currently represented by Democrats could be at risk of flipping once their boundaries are redrawn.
Many are located in Georgia’s Black Belt, a mostly rural ribbon through the middle of the state. The districts surrounding the state’s major cities could also be redrawn to create new, majority white seats.
“They’re not doing this because it is what the community wants, or what their constituents want,” said Amir Badat, one of the organization’s leaders. “They’re doing this to amass as much political power as possible on the backs of Black and brown voters across Georgia.”
Several Republican lawmakers have quietly questioned the wisdom of redistricting now, worrying that the fight could energize Democrats, distract from Republican campaign messages on the economy and expose candidates in competitive statewide races and swing legislative districts to unnecessary political headaches.
Some are hoping Kemp could narrow the session’s scope after the runoff. But there is little sign he’s open to that possibility.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, meanwhile, urged Republicans to think beyond the next election cycle.
“You don’t want to do anything that weakens you,” he said in an interview. “One thing I’ve always not liked about redistricting is that people want to draw the maps for that moment in time, what looks the best right then. They’re not looking two, three cycles down the road.”
A session like no other
The politics are strange enough. The cast of characters may be stranger.
The timing, just a day after Tuesday’s runoff races, means several of the key players in the Legislature could arrive as lame ducks, starting with Jones, who doubles as president of the Senate in his role as lieutenant governor.
If Jones loses his bid for governor to billionaire Rick Jackson, he would oversee one of the most consequential legislative battles of the decade while navigating an uncertain political future of his own.
If he wins the nomination, he would enter a November fight against Bottoms while presiding over a session that could dismantle districts held by Black Democrats.
Several lawmakers who ran for higher office and lost this year will return to the Capitol, including contenders who ran for lieutenant governor and attorney general. Others have already announced retirements.
And all of it will unfold against the backdrop of demonstrations at the Capitol and beyond scheduled to begin even before lawmakers meet, with organizers hoping to make the fight impossible to ignore.
“We are a country that’s founded on protest, so we shouldn’t be afraid of nonviolent protest,” said former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who is helping to mobilize a coalition of diverse voters.
She argued the potential loss of Black political representation would carry consequences beyond partisan arithmetic.
“It’s devastating,” Franklin said. “When you look at the success of the city of Atlanta over the last 60 years, you see what value diverse opinions and African American leadership is brought to the city of Atlanta.”
At a Thursday gathering at Antioch Baptist Church that drew hundreds of Black leaders, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens warned of an “erosion” of civil rights that requires a response across Georgia’s power structure.
“We are going to have to fight the David and Goliath fight,” he said. “But this is Atlanta. And we know how to meet the moment.”
Senior reporter Tamar Hallerman contributed to this report.
About the Author
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.
