Georgia lawmakers launch third redistricting session amid court rulings

Georgia lawmakers returned to redistricting for the third time this decade as Gov. Brian Kemp opened a special session on June 17, putting the state back at the center of the post-Voting Rights Act fight over who draws political power in the South. The session was narrowly limited to redistricting and election issues, and the immediate target is not the 2026 ballot but the maps that could shape the 2028 elections and beyond.

The push follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which weakened a key Voting Rights Act protection by requiring plaintiffs to prove intentional racial discrimination to overturn gerrymandered districts. In Georgia, Republicans currently hold nine of the state’s 14 U.S. House seats, and even small line changes can decide which communities are clustered together, which incumbents are protected and where Democrats have any realistic path to compete.

Georgia’s maps were already thrown into legal turmoil before this latest opening. The congressional and legislative districts drawn after the 2020 census in 2021 were struck down on October 26, 2023, when U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones ruled that the state’s boundaries violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered lawmakers to produce new maps by December 8, 2023. Those court-ordered maps took effect for the 2024 election cycle, and both sides appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the cases remain pending.

Jones’s remedy was expansive. He ordered Georgia to add an additional majority-Black congressional district in west metro Atlanta and seven additional majority-Black legislative districts, including two state Senate seats and five state House seats. The underlying lawsuits were brought by the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, Common Cause and other groups and voters, who argued that the state’s political process was not equally open to Black voters in certain areas.

Kemp’s office said it was actively analyzing the Supreme Court ruling and its possible effects but offered no further comment. Still, the political pressure was immediate. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and gubernatorial contender Rick Jackson both called for a special session to overhaul the lines, while Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon said any new maps should stick to traditional redistricting principles.

Democrats warned that the ruling could erase recent gains and damage their chances of flipping seats. State Rep. Saira Draper said the decision could undo party gains in the Georgia House, underscoring the stakes for Black voters, legislative control and the balance of power in one of the South’s most watched battlegrounds.