A federal judge has accepted new Georgia congressional and legislative voting districts that protect Republican partisan advantages, saying the creation of new majority-Black voting districts solved the illegal minority vote dilution that led him to order maps to be redrawn.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, in three separate but similarly worded orders, rejected claims that the new maps don’t do enough to help Black voters. Jones said he can’t interfere with legislative choices, even if Republicans moved to protect their power. The maps were redrawn in a recent special legislative session after Jones in October ruled that maps drawn in 2021 illegally harmed Black voters.
The judge’s approval sets the stage for their use in the 2024 elections. Their implementation is likely to reproduce the current 9-5 Republican majority among Georgia’s 14 congressional seats and a 33-23 GOP margin in the Senate. Democrats are likely to gain one or two seats in a state House that now has a 102-78 Republican margin.
