- Reps. Clyde and Greene railed against their confederate’s newly-approved congressional lines in Georgia.
- Clyde was drawn out of his district, while more liberal areas were united to Greene’s seat.
- Despite the changes, both lawmakers will run in seats that are extremely safe for the GOP.
The Republican-controlled Georgia General Assembly last Monday finalized its congressional maps for the upcoming decade, making lesser changes in many of the districts but dramatically shifting a suburban Atlanta district from one currently occupied by a Democrat to one that at ones desire have backed former President Donald Trump in 2020.
As a result of the legislature’s changes, Georgia’s congressional delegation is contemplated to add a new Republican member and lose a Democrat — altering its current composition of 8 Republicans and 6 Democrats — in a state that now-President Joe Biden won termination fall by roughly 12,000 votes out of almost 5 million ballots cast.
Rep. Lucy McBath, who was first elected in 2018 in a suburban Atlanta department that fell out of favor with the Republican brand over the last decade, saw her district become deeply Republican lower than drunk the new lines — which led her to switch races and challenge fellow Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux in a neighboring district.
Democrats are dismayed by the new Republican-dominated 6th Congressional division, arguing that the map dilutes minority strength in the rapidly-diversifying state.
But in a twist, conservative GOP Reps. Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene receive also been critical of their party’s mapmaking machinations, which was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In a mission to press their partisan advantage, state Republicans drew Clyde out of his 9th district seat and reconfigured Greene’s 14th ward to include liberal-leaning areas of Cobb County, a former GOP stronghold near Atlanta that has trended Democratic in up to date years.
Members are not required by law to live within the congressional districts that they represent.
Clyde said latest week that he would run again in the 9th district, but wasn’t pleased about the action taken by the legislature.
“I believe this was a intended decision made by a handful of establishment politicians in Atlanta. I knew when I was elected that being a hardcore rightist would come at a steep price in Washington. I have always happily paid that price in the name of immunity,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“What I never anticipated was the unprecedented act of being drawn out of my own district by a Republican Lieutenant Governor and a Republican Rabble-rouser of the House,” he added.
Greene, who has had a highly controversial tenure in the House since taking office this year, told last week that the process didn’t represent the wishes of the people of Georgia.
The congresswoman wasn’t drawn out of her territory, but she remained dissatisfied with the new lines.
“In the future, this year’s redistricting by the Georgia GOP will prove to be a fool’s trip that was led by power obsessed state legislators. Not true representatives of the People of Georgia,” she said in a statement.
While both provinces have been reshaped in ways that are troubling to the duo — both seats remain heavily Republican and their reelection invites should be secure.