Georgia lawmakers return to Capitol for special session on redistricting

Georgia lawmakers will return to the state capitol Wednesday for a special legislative session.

Governor Brian Kemp called for it last month to redraw congressional districts.

As lawmakers come back to the Capitol Wednesday morning, they could make changes to the state's congressional maps.

It would affect the State Senate, State House of Representatives, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

This special session comes after a Supreme Court ruling in April narrowing the Voting Rights Act.

Since then, states like Tennessee and Alabama have redrawn their maps.

We spoke to Georgia State Representative Michelle Au. She represents Johns Creek and parts of Alpharetta. 

"We saw that in the 2021 redistricting cycle, where the State Senate district that I represented was targeted in the Senate maps to be flipped from Democratic representation to Republican," Representative Michelle Au said. "The unusual thing about the area that I represent and the districts I represent is that it has the highest density of Asian-American voters in the entire state." 

Au is running for re-election this year.

If changes are made to the state's congressional maps, they would likely take effect for the 2028 election cycle. 

It's not guaranteed that Georgia Republicans can get what they want from new maps.

Partisan gerrymandering involves redistributing voters — packing certain citizens into fewer districts or dividing them across more districts. Around metro Atlanta, spreading nonwhite, Democratic-leaning voters across more districts could make more seats seem to lean Republican. The risk, however, is that more battleground districts emerge because white metropolitan voters are trending less conservative, which could give Democratic candidates of any race or ethnicity more chances to win.

That's perhaps not a major factor in the Georgia state Senate, which already is considered gerrymandered for Republicans. But it could be a consideration when drawing state House and U.S. House maps.

Kemp is effectively asking Republicans, especially in metro Atlanta, to redraw their own boundaries and take on new, unfamiliar territory.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.