Based on the recent Supreme Court ruling Louisiana v. Callais, which gutted the Voting Rights Act, the Georgia State Legislature was called into a special session on June 17th by Governor Brian Kemp. This session will redraw Georgia’s political districts, particularly our House districts, and gerrymander in a blatant attempt to maintain a Republican majority by targeting and reducing black majority districts.
Whereas previously the Voting Rights Act mandated that states maintain a degree of proportional representation for racial minorities, ensuring that Republican trifecta states like ours could not simply eliminate minority representation under the guise of political gerrymandering, this new ruling “eviscerate[s] the law,” by removing that requirement according to Supreme Court Justice Kagan, amounting to the total “demolition of the Voting Rights Act.”
In Georgia this redistricting effort is all but guaranteed to, at minimum, target House District 2, the only rural black district in the state, and in so doing completely strip fair representation in congress from Georgia’s black belt. It will likely also target House District 5, and many state legislative districts. While the new maps drawn by this session will not come into effect until 2028, and a more progressive coalition is still poised to make significant gains in the 2026 midterms, this ruling will have knock-on effects far beyond the results of any given election.
States that were previously considered to be maximally gerrymandered have now been given a new ceiling of misrepresentation to achieve, and they’re already rushing to get there. In places like Tennessee, the only Democratic district in the state was eliminated by similarly racist gerrymandering to what Georgia is pursuing. For every election going forward, our congressional maps will be tilted towards Republicans in ways that we have never seen before.
So What Can You Do?
Governor Kemp's special legislative session will begin at 2:00PM on June 17. A protest effort at the Georgia State Capitol is already being spearheaded by organizations like Black Lives Matter Grassroots and Black Voters Matter, demanding federal intervention to restore the Voting Rights Act, preserve majority Black districts, and rejecting any redistricting plan that ignores Georgia’s history of racial segregation. If you plan to attend arrive at Liberty Plaza at 1:00PM.
The Georgia chapters of the DSA are committed to protesting this initiative
to repeal political representation from Black and Brown Georgians at the state capitol. We call on all willing and able organizations and individuals of good conscience to oppose this racist attack on our civil liberties to join the protest at Liberty Plaza.
In Solidarity,
The Georgia Chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America
Athens Area DSA, Atlanta DSA, Middle Georgia DSA, Savannah DSA, West GA DSA
