Powder Springs, Georgia – Less than a 30-minute drive from Atlanta, Powder Springs embodies the changes that are transforming Georgia’s politics. Shops and restaurants, owned almost entirely by black owners, are rising in the city center and are frequented by a growing population of young and racially diverse residents. The suburban city elected its first black mayor in 2015, and the county in which it is located, the former Republican fortress of Cobb, voted for President Biden by 14 percentage points in 2020.
There is another big change: Powder Springs, a city with a majority of blacks, may soon be introduced to Congress by Marjorie Taylor Green.
This development, as a result of new maps of the regions prepared by the legislators of the state of Georgia, was part of the Republicans’ desire to blunt the power of the Democrats. But for residents, the prospect of Powers Springs and another predominantly black suburb, Ostel, being represented by perhaps the far-right Republican in Congress raises issues that go beyond party politics. Some say they have little confidence that Mrs. Green will give them the same attention and respect she gives to her white Republican voters, and fear that their vote in Congress will not speak for them.
“It’s about having someone who will answer your phone calls, who will work on your behalf, who will be interested in what will happen to your children, who will take care to make sure you get to work. “Said State Representative David Wilkerson, a black Democrat who lives and represents the communities that are now drawn to Ms. Green’s congressional district. “That’s what people are looking for.”
The newly formed 14th Congressional District is the result of a tactic called cracking, the practice of breaking up blocs of voters and scattering them in multiple constituencies to blur their power. This is customary and lawful under federal law, unless the court finds that it was intentionally used to prevent voters of the same race from choosing a representative of their choice.
Ms. Green, best known as a social media bomber, said little about how she would represent communities new to her area if she won re-election in November. She did not respond to requests for comment.
In November, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she was unhappy that her area had become a little less republican, calling the redistribution process “a fool’s order run by government-obsessed state lawmakers.” Instead of adding Democrats to their constituency, she said, lawmakers “should strengthen GOP areas in the long run.”
Ms. Green won her seat by more than 50 percentage points in 2020, and her area will remain bright red in the new maps. It will still extend through Georgia’s predominantly white and rural countryside all the way to its mountainous border with Tennessee. Powder Springs and Austell, with a combined population of less than 25,000, will stand as a lone blue corner in a sea of red in the new 14th district.
Of course, many Democrat voters across the country are represented by Republicans and vice versa. But some voters see Ms. Green’s republicanism as a special insult. The congresswoman followed QAnon’s conspiracy theory and questioned whether the 9/11 attacks and the school shooting were real – comments that displaced her from congressional committees in the House of Representatives.
She is facing a lawsuit to challenge her candidacy after a group of Georgian voters filed a lawsuit to remove her from the ballot. The group said its comments in the days leading up to the Capitol attack on January 6, including calling the day “our moment in 1776”, helped spark the uprising. Ms Green testified that she meant “the courage to object” to the election results, but did not call for violence.
What you need to know about redistribution
In February, Ms. Green spoke at a rally organized by a prominent white supporter. She later defended her presence, calling the criticism an attempt to “cancel” it.
“Marjorie Taylor Green is the opposite of what we believe,” said Robert Richards, a former Army pilot and police officer in Baltimore who now serves as the top executive of the federal government. He has lived in Powder Springs since 2016. “Her rhetoric, her behavior, her discourse in Congress, her discourse, frankly, as an American, is just something that is just reprehensible.”
For more than a decade, Powder Springs and Austell have been represented by Representative David Scott, a black Democrat whose area includes parts of Atlanta and surrounding suburbs. Mr. Scott’s new neighborhood now includes a larger portion of the suburbs south of Atlanta.
Most people engage with their legislators on routine issues, such as speedy passport renewals, social security claims, veterans’ inquiries, or locally targeted legislation. Ms. Green’s ability to pass laws is limited by the fact that she was deprived of commission obligations. Much of the legislation she has sponsored is aimed at creating political points, such as the Fire Fauci Act and President Biden’s impeachment resolution. But none of the bills she sponsored at this legislative session are specific to the 14th district.
At a rally in March in her area, she boasted that she had voted against any Democrat-backed law.
Mr Wilkerson, the US MP, said he was most concerned about a possible disruption of communication between his office and Mrs Green’s Washington office to address constitutional issues. He said he had not heard from her office since the new cards passed last fall.
Henry Lust, a city councilor at Powder Springs, said: “Our cities are growing, we have significant developments that are being put on the table and are being implemented. We have a bright future. We don’t want to see this bright future derailed. “
Ms. Green also rejected some conservatives. She withdrew five Republican candidates for the May 24 primary in Georgia. One, a small business owner, Jennifer Strahan, ran as a conservative without drama – helping her gain support from several Republican leaders in the county, including four of five commissioners in one of the largest counties. She says she will reconnect the area with Washington.
How US redistribution works
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What is redistribution? This is redrawing the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. This happens every 10 years after the census to reflect population changes.
How it works? The census dictates how many seats each state will receive in Congress. Map makers then work to ensure that all regions of the country have approximately the same number of residents to ensure equal representation in the House.
Who draws the new cards? Each country has its own process. Eleven states leave mapping on an outer panel. But most – 39 states – have prompted state lawmakers to draw new maps for Congress.
If state legislators can draw their own districts, won’t they be biased? Yes. Guerrilla mapmakers often move the lines of districts – imperceptibly or rudely – to unite voters in a way that progresses toward a political goal. This is called gerrymandering.
Is gerrymandering legal? Yes and no. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts had no role in blocking guerrilla herrimanders. However, the court left intact parts of the Voting Rights Act that prohibit racial or ethnic fraud.
“Restoring the service to that, and we’re not so focused on being a celebrity on social media, allows us to bring people back,” Ms. Strahan said, noting that she and Ms. Green share “some overlap.” in their beliefs as conservatives. Ms. Strahan follows Ms. Green in fundraising and struggles to increase her popularity.
In Powder Springs and Austell, some residents are organizing to try to develop the political muscles they have. Deborah Johnson, chairwoman of the Austell Community Working Group, a typically apolitical community group, has taken the initiative to encourage more Cobb County voters to vote in next month’s primary election. Ms. Johnson said she found the congresswoman’s comments on the January 6 attack particularly worrying.
“She felt it was just something that should have been swept under the rug and not considered a riot,” Ms. Johnson said. “It was big in my eyes.”
A handful of residents, including Mr. Richards, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s new maps. The lawsuit, filed in December, claims that the new lines were drawn specifically to blur the influence of black voters and violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act by not allowing an additional majority of blacks in the southern county of Cobb. It is unlikely that the case will be resolved before the primary elections.
In early April, hundreds of Cobb residents gathered for The Taste of Mabelton, the first spring festival of its kind, featuring food trucks, live performances and booths for dozens of community groups. Created in the shadow of a large billboard for Mr. Scott, the event aimed to strengthen ties between residents of the small community, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic left them very distant.
The mention of Mrs. Green’s new territory next door was met with nervous laughter and rolling of eyes among those at the festival who were aware of the change. Those who learned about him for the first time responded with indignation and confusion.
Elliott Hennington, a community leader who is also a plaintiff in the case, described the redrawn area as “disgraceful” and “very disrespectful” to the voters who are now part of it.
“They were shocked, surprised,” he said in an interview behind the stand of the Austell community task force. “People are simply redirected just to meet their own needs, without receiving input or support from people in the area – people who would like to be represented in an honest and fair way.”
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