District reorganization dispute escalates ahead of midterm elections
Powder Springs, Georgia, a majority black community north of Atlanta, has long been represented in Congress by black Democrats, but CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa
Next year, after the midterm elections for the state's new congressional map, the city will become Georgia's 14th congressional district. and will be represented by Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene. By Democrats, and some Republicans, for expressing conspiratorial views.
"What they did was occupy a predominately African-American area and combine it with North Georgia to dilute our power," said the Democratic Party of Georgia. State Rep. David Wilkerson told his CBS his news.
The upheaval and anger among some Democrats was sparked by Republican-controlled state legislatures. ,on the political map of last year's states, following2020 Census counts, which redrawed boundaries.
Green criticized state Republicans for interfering with her districts, but earlier this year she said she welcomed the addition of districts.
}"I'm thrilled they're in my district," she told CBS News.
Still, many Democrats say the new maps of Georgia and the nation made by the Republican State Capitol are unfair. The alarm extends to Capitol Hill.
"I think they are giving a racial advantage under the guise of giving a faction an advantage," said House Majority Leader Jim Cliburn ( Democratic-South Carolina) told his CBS News. "They take race into account, but they are not fair, they are not inclusive, they do the exact opposite."
Clyburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress. He said he believes the Republican map's negative impact on how people of color are represented in Congress is just the beginning.
"I think what is happening today is the beginning of the process. Where will it end?" he said.
Democrats face their own questions about how they drew the line in blue states.
"They went too far. They tried to kill the Republican Party," said former Congressman John Faso, who has advised Republicans on the redistricting process.
For now, places like Georgia are left with anger and anxiety about who is representing who in Washington, D.C., just weeks before the midterm elections. .
"There was no logical way for Marjorie Taylor-Greene to enter Cobb County unless you gerrymandered the district," Wilkerson said. 114}
Ultimately, the Supreme Court may make a final decision on how far state legislatures may go in redistricting. A major lawsuit over a map produced by the Republican Congress in North Carolina will be launched next year to determine how and when state courts can vote and reject or accept how districts are drawn.
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