Georgia Republicans on Monday approved new congressional maps that will likely give them an additional House seat while forcing two sitting Democrats to face off next year, HuffPost reports.
Rep. Lucy McBath, who represents Georgia’s 6th District, announced on Monday that she will run against Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, who represents the 7th District, after the state legislature made the 6th district more conservative while making the 7th district more Democratic.
Both McBath and Bourdeaux flipped seats previously held by Republicans in the last two elections.
“Black women are often told to stand down and step aside. Those are two things I simply will not do,” McBath said. “So I am running in the newly created Democratic district.”
“Georgia’s 7th district deserves a representative that understands their issues. I am the Gwinnett representative in the race for a predominantly Gwinnett district,” Bourdeaux said. “The people of the 7th deserve a representative that understands and cares about their needs and has a record of fighting for them in Washington. It’s my hard-fought honor to serve the people of Gwinnett and GA’s 7th district, and I look forward to continuing to do so.”
Georgia GOP poised to add seat:
The Georgia legislature on Monday approved a map that would expand their existing 8-6 House advantage to 9-5 despite former President Donald Trump and both former Republican senators failing to reach 50% of the vote in their respective races.
None of the state’s 14 congressional districts would be competitive.
McBath, who won reelection with 55% of the vote, had her district entirely reconfigured to be a Republican +15 district. The map makes Bourdeaux’s district, which she won with 51%, a Democrat +22 district.
In all, Republicans would have 64% of the state’s congressional seat despite running about even in actual votes.
Democrats cry foul:
“At a time when women are already underrepresented, particularly women of color, we should not be drawing maps that target women incumbents to make it harder for them to run and win in new districts,” state Rep. Mariam Paris, a Democrat, said during the House debate. “But the map before us today does exactly that.”
“This map puts power over principles, partisanship over people,” said Minority Leader James Beverly. “It’s the Republican way or the highway.”
