Republican leaders in the Georgia State Legislature said they would not take up redistricting during a special session that had been set to start Wednesday afternoon — and that had been called expressly to erase U.S. House seats in majority-Black districts.
Gov. Brian Kemp called the session to draw legislative maps before the 2028 election with the aim of creating boundaries more favorable to Republicans. Georgia was to be the latest Southern state to consider redistricting after a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakened Voting Rights Act protections for Black representation.
Crowds of protesters that had assembled in the atrium of the State Capitol in Atlanta erupted in cheers as Jon Burns, the House speaker, announced Republicans’ intentions to hold off on redistricting.
“Changes to our district maps have the potential to affect every voter in Georgia, and they deserve the same thoughtful, fact-driven process that has always guided the House,” Mr. Burns, flanked by other Republican lawmakers on the steps under the Capitol dome, told reporters on Wednesday, less than an hour before the special session convened.
Some Republicans had quietly expressed reluctance about redistricting ahead of the session, fearful it would energize Democrats during an election cycle with pivotal statewide races on the ballot, including the governor’s office being vacated by Mr. Kemp and the Senate seat held by Jon Ossoff, a Democrat seeking re-election.
Still, others in the Republican Party had wanted to take advantage of majorities in the State Legislature and the certainty of having a Republican governor to push through a favorable map for 2028 now. Any changes to the map locked in this year could be undone ahead of 2028 if the Democratic candidate for governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, prevailed in November and Democrats somehow won control of both chambers of the statehouse.
Even as other Southern states — including Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana — rushed to create new maps in time for the 2026 election, Mr. Kemp resisted, saying it was too late as voting in the May primaries had already started.
Larry Walker, the Senate president, said the instruction from Mr. Kemp had been to consider redistricting for 2028, and that Republican leaders determined it was not prudent to rush the process.
The Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act “left no doubt that we would need to draw new maps,” Mr. Walker said during the news conference. “The question was when.”
Mr. Walker said he and other Republican leaders preferred to wait to see how the legal challenges to new maps drawn in other states would play out.
“We are confident that Georgia’s new districts will ultimately withstand legal scrutiny,” Mr. Walker said, “and that Georgia will prevail in defending these maps before the courts.”
Democrats in Georgia cautioned that as long as the special session was gaveled in, the issue could re-emerge, and that it almost certainly will return next year.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
