Brian Kemp rejects push to redraw maps, curb Keisha Lance Bottoms’ powers
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday he will not call a special legislative session to redraw Georgia’s political boundaries or limit the powers of Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms, choosing an orderly transfer of power over a last-minute political confrontation in the final days of his second term.
The Republican’s announcement came hours after Bottoms’ historic victory, which ended 24 years of GOP control of the Governor’s Mansion and raised the prospect of a bitter showdown with Republican legislative leaders before she takes office in January.
Instead, Kemp made clear he would respect the voters’ decision rather than give Republican lawmakers one final chance to assert their authority before Bottoms is sworn in.
“The voters of our state have spoken. As long as I’m governor, we will always respect the results of secure, accessible, and fair elections, and also abide by the laws and constitution of our state,” Kemp said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I will not be calling a special session of the Georgia General Assembly in order to curtail executive branch powers or debate redistricting changes.”
The decision harkens back to Kemp’s refusal to call a special session in 2020 to help President Donald Trump overturn his narrow defeat.
But Kemp left open the possibility of calling lawmakers back to Atlanta for a different reason, citing “budgetary issues that may need to be addressed before the convening of the regular session in January.”
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‘Sore losers’
The governor had pressed lawmakers earlier this year to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative maps after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
But Republican legislative leaders rebuffed Kemp’s push, citing pending litigation and the need for a more open and transparent process. They left open the possibility of reviving the fight after the November election.
Kemp’s announcement now slams the door on any overhaul in his final weeks in office, leaving any future battle over Georgia’s political boundaries to the incoming administration and the courts.
Democrats had been bracing for a bruising fight that could have plunged Georgia into another national political controversy, this time over whether Republicans would strip powers from the nation’s first Black female governor before she took office.
And Bottoms had repeatedly warned Republicans the move would backfire by branding the GOP the “party of sore losers” as Kemp prepared to leave office.
“We are a state that has gotten things done in moderation,” she told the “Politically Georgia” podcast earlier this year. “And it would be really unfortunate for them to do that on their way out of the door.”