U.S. Rep. John Barrow to be shoved out of Savannah?
A reliable contact has just sent us this draft of new congressional lines now moving among influential Republicans in Georgia – the first detailed look we’ve seen:
Click here for a your own downloadable copy. As David Wasserman of Cook Political Report notes below, the map is the same one he posted in May.
Nonetheless, we’re being assured that these lines are being passed around as a starting point for a special session of the Legislature that begins Aug. 15. At a glance:
– In the 12th District, U.S. Rep. John Barrow, the last white Democrat from the Deep South, would be pushed out of his residence in Savannah. Previously, Republicans targeted him by forcing Barrow to move from his original base in Athens. Under this map, Augusta would become Barrow’s third home. If he survives a 2012 vote.
– The new, Republican-dominated 14th District would stretch from Hall County, home to both Gov. Nathan Deal and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, northeast to Rabun Gap – and eastward into the middle of Cherokee County.
– In the 8th District, U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, would pick up the Republican-dominated Valdosta area from U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah, protecting Scott from a first-term challenge. But Scott wouldn’t pick up Thomasville, as some had said he would.
– In the 2nd District, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, would be strengthened by moving into the Bibb County area – a Democratic-leaning region might have served as a base for a challenge to Austin Scott.
– U.S. Rep. John Lewis’s 5th District would be pushed deep into DeKalb County, nearly to Dunwoody, and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson’s 4th District, which has been dominated by DeKalb, would move further east into Rockdale and Newton counties, whose African-American populations have exploded.
One Capitol voice we talked to, who is familiar with the map and is close to the redistricting process, said it largely reflects current thought among Republicans — especially when it comes to south Georgia. But expect some tweaking, especially in metro Atlanta. As drawn, the lines for the 7th District, now occupied by Republican Rob Woodall, wouldn’t hold up over 10 years. Population shifts would nearly guarantee that the district would wind up in Democratic hands by 2021.
That’s just a quick assessment. Additional observations would be welcome.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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81 comments Add your comment
Rexd Dogma
July 29th, 2011
3:01 pm
To republicans, why are you still whining about Roy. Y’all have been in charge for w while and this state sinks further down. I was thrilled that a republican actually got a truth on the truth o meter when chip rogers said we have some of the lowest graduation rates and lowest sat scores. keep going and this will be a 3rd world country soon.
CanThinkForMyself
July 29th, 2011
4:08 pm
Why do I have to get Google docs to download this file? I would rather use my Adobe Acrobat X — why don’t I have a choice? Anyone else have this problem?
Gary
July 29th, 2011
4:21 pm
It’s funny how people like DannyX call Republicans crazy, yet get on these message boards and proceed to comment like they are certifiable nut jobs. A sad life someone like ole DannyX must live.
The maps look good and certainly nothing like King Roy put out ten years ago. And as long as you Democrats keep blaming the current economy on a President who has been out of office for 3 years and one who was last able to control his agenda 5 years ago, then we will continue to bring up King Roy whenever redistricting comes up. He played a game that no Dem has ever lost in this state and lost big time.
RetiredSoldier
July 29th, 2011
4:24 pm
S-
Please refer to the 2010 elections. 2012, more of the same.
AngryVoter
July 29th, 2011
4:36 pm
@Rexd Dogma – Gosh, you miss the point. I’m not a Rep whose upset about Roy. I’m a Dem leaning Independent who wants to vote Dem but is very disappointed at the offerings given us by the State Dem Party. Roy was a disaster. Since he was toppled, the Dems gave us Mark Taylor and then Roy again. The Dems have low hanging fruit this time – a terribly unethical Gov who hasn’t done much to help the State navigate some bad times. The frustration is the Dems will blow it again and nominate Barnes for a fourth time or someone who’s not much better.
One thing Reps do well is change course. Dems, instead, dig their heels in and arrogantly think they’ll be able to convince people who already know better that the Dems are right. It’s proven over time not to be a winning strategy.
MrLiberty
July 29th, 2011
4:44 pm
Hard to tell but it looks like my wife and I will continue to not be represented by Hank Johnson or whatever idiot the parasites of the district choose to elect. Hard to believe that the constitution started with 1 representative for every 30,000 people (yes, I know the whole 3/5 slave rule, etc. – get past that ok?_). Now we have one rep for every 750,000+ “citizens.” So we as citizens are 25 times less represented than we were at the founding of this country. I know that I would be FAR better represented if my representative represented only 30,000 people. Frankly we all deserve more representation. We should have 25 times the number of people in the US House – or even better, cut the country up into 25 countries rather than the current mess we have. God knows we all hate each other and those of us who actually contribute to the productive sector are sick and tired of all the parasites who do not. Maybe 50 separate countries united under a loose non-binding agreement would be great too. Funny, sounds a lot like the wonderful Articles of Confederation.
One thing’s for sure. We certainly can’t continue on this current path. The US is way too big to remain as is. Talk about your taxation without representation. Coincindentally when the congress passed the law that LIMITED the number of US house members to the current number was right around the same time they began the slavery of the income tax. Coincidence? I think not.
Lizzie
July 29th, 2011
4:56 pm
Jim, your contacts must not be too reliable. This is just the first of many and will definitely not be the one we end up with.
AngryVoter
July 29th, 2011
4:57 pm
@S – A big Dem problem is that they really think all they need to do is make the Reps look bad and people will vote Dem by default. Dems really have no idea how Independents really think Dems are a failed party. Dems failed terribly when they controlled Congress. The voters turned them out of office in record numbers. What did the Dems do? They kept their leaders and decided the problem was they didn’t do a good job explaining. It’s not just the failure, but the arrogance that turns voters off.
Dems need to do what Reps have done. They need to bring in fresh faces and get a clear message to voters about why Dems should be in office. There is no way Inds will vote for the party run by Pelosi, Reed, Frank and Schumer. We know from experience these people are incompetent and share responsibility for where the nation is now. We know they have no idea how to budget or run a government in any direction, save for straight into the ground. No matter how bad the Reps, the Dems, in their present state, will be perceived as worse, so a Dem strategy of trying to paint the Reps as bad cannot work. At least voting back in the Reps isn’t voting back in the people who previously failed at running the government.
It’s like the Dems think we will purchase a used Yugo if they can show us the flaws on a new Chevy. We keep waiting for a BMW, but if the only choices are the Yugo and Chevy, we’ll hold our noses and purchase the Chevy.
SC Guy
July 29th, 2011
5:13 pm
If it more accurately reflects the GOP hold on the state of Georgia, then I am in favor.
Jason
July 29th, 2011
7:29 pm
When do the cities and counties have their redistricting?
Lamondrionna
July 29th, 2011
7:52 pm
“…the lines for the 7th District, now occupied by Republican Rob Woodall, wouldn’t hold up over 10 years. Population shifts would nearly guarantee that the district would wind up in Democratic hands by 2021.”
Living in Gwinnett those are not words I want to hear. Guess I need to move further east soon, before I’m overrun by diversity.
chamblee54
July 29th, 2011
11:37 pm
I would like to see a more detailed map. My house is in between number 4, 5, and 6.
I would like to see a return to a simple system, where Atlanta/Fulton Co. was a district, and Dekalb was a district.
I wonder what Cynthia McKinney is thinking about these days.
chamblee54
Judy
July 30th, 2011
2:03 am
Why does this re-districting map make me think of the quote, I think it was by Stalin or Karl Marx that said something like, “He who controls the votes, controls the people.” Who has proposed the re-districting? I realize it’s coming from the census info..but did they also count Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Charley Chicken?
Judy
July 30th, 2011
2:09 am
Why does this map make me think of the statement by either Stalin or Karl Marx that said, “He who counts the votes, also controls the people.” Who’s idea was it to do the re-districting anyway? I realize it supposedly is due to the new census information, but as I recall, there was some upset re Obama’s new method of handling (overseeing/controlling) the census department that had not been done in past presidencies. I also ponder how many of the new numbers may include Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Charley Chicken! I realize an ACORN does not fall too far from the tree!
GB
July 30th, 2011
7:08 am
A Political Demgrapher:
I don’t see the retrogression. Lewis, Johnson, Bishop and Scott are all still in majority districts, aren’t they. If Barrow is hurt I don’t think that he retrogression. The current 12th is not majority black, is it? Where do you see the retrogression?
Concerned Voter
July 30th, 2011
9:09 am
Amazing how everything that is wrong with this country is Obama’s fault. He’s been in office two and a half years. Bush, on the other hand, was given a workable budget by Clinton. Bush gave us three wars and destroyed all the good that Clinton handed him. Obama was given a disasterous budget by Bush and was expected to work miracles. How in the world could this economic mess be all Obama’s fault? Too many of the bloggers here are really just racist, and hating Democrats seems to be natural with them.
eb
July 30th, 2011
9:37 am
get Lee County away from s. bishop
Star Falcon
July 30th, 2011
9:57 am
I hope that attorney Ashley Bell (R) run for the new CD14 seat.
Georgians remember this circus (elected officials) up there in DC. Since January they have spent a lot of time energy and other resources, debating about how much to increase their credit card limit and for how long. The media is thrill by this nightmare of a show that Washington has produced. They have treated it like the Super-bowl. Meanwhile the American People continue to suffer, because the real problems have gotten worse. Unemployment, the economy etc.
Grades for 2011
House of Representatives…..F, The Senate D-, The President C-.
DH
July 30th, 2011
10:39 am
Not a fan of Cherokee County being lumped into the new 14th with northeast Georgia. Also, Cobb County being divided into FOUR districts seems pretty disrespectful.
RetiredSoldier
July 30th, 2011
11:10 am
CV-
Don’t hate Obama, dislike his policies. By your line of reasoning black bloggers who disliked Bush are racist. I doubt you think that is true, but with your logic it is.
Bush started 3 wars? Really? Me thinks you have one to many.
Dieseldave
July 30th, 2011
1:37 pm
I don’t like it. Powder Springs area is still in 13th. Should be grouped in with one of districts on north side of Chattahoochee.
Political Potpurri
July 30th, 2011
6:55 pm
[...] Galloway has a map of new Congressional districts. It’s been floating around for a few weeks now (Charlie posted it [...]
big d dawg
July 30th, 2011
10:56 pm
Cherokee county at over 240,000 in population, and being a strong republican county, needs lone representation and should not be split. Some how, Cherokee should be in one district.
GA Redistricting: Barrow to be shoved out of Savannah? « Uncategorized « Verify The Vote AZ
July 30th, 2011
11:09 pm
[...] Redistricting: Barrow to be shoved out of Savannah? Posted on July 30, 2011 by Tabella AJC analyzes a draft map from source and provides some tidbits for a special session that starts [...]
Judy
July 31st, 2011
4:49 pm
Oh,please…Cherokee Co. split 3 ways…that’s bright…you’ve got to be kidding…
Betty Brady
July 31st, 2011
8:10 pm
Anybody that isn’t smart enough to see that the Obama/Pelosi/Reid administaration is the biggest danger to America right now should not post or even vote, for that matter. All of the Democrats need to be sent home at the 2012 election. We cannot continue on the way our federa government is going. What part of BROKE don’t the Democrats understand?
East Cobb Republican
July 31st, 2011
11:06 pm
If Ed Setzler of Cobb County thinks he is going to destroy the School board lines in favor of David Banks, someone needs to check his breath to see if he is drunk or check his pulse (because it will be the end of a somewhat bright future).
Mike Seigle
August 1st, 2011
1:25 am
The 4th should include more of Gwinnett and Black majority census tracts in Fayette, Newton, and Henry should be in the 13th. Cherokee should all be in the 14th and most if not all of the Tenn border should be in the 9th. The lines in the 2nd and 8th look clean, but they do not fully represent community of interest. Some black belt counties are in the 8th and 12th. Some White suburban counties and majority white retirement heavy counties are in the 2nd.
Keith
August 1st, 2011
10:07 am
There’s already enough questionable voting practices coming from the Columbus, GA area. Why are they selling out the 2nd district to the Dems when we finally found someone to mount a serious challenge against Sanford Bishop? We’re being sold out to help out Austin Scott? You’ve got to be kidding me!!!
RetiredSoldier
August 1st, 2011
2:21 pm
Keith-
Why? The Voting Rights Act of 1965. That’s why Barrow is the target.
Bobby Anthony
August 1st, 2011
4:46 pm
I like this map. It removes McDuffie County from Paul Broun’s district.