By Jill Nolin | Editor
Georgia lawmakers will return to Atlanta next week to start redrawing the state’s political maps for the 2028 election, but they are not doing that because a court has told them to do so. As Maya Homan reports today, a long-running legal feud over the state’s existing maps is still pending in federal court.
Sen. John Kennedy, who chaired the Senate Redistricting Committee, argued during a 2021 special session that the GOP-drawn maps are fair to all Georgians. In 2023, state lawmakers were directed by a federal judge to draw new maps. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
REDISTRICTING
Georgia lawmakers plan to redraw district lines, even as dispute over current maps remains unsettled
By Maya Homan
Georgia is just days away from the start of another special session — the third during this decade that will center around redrawing district lines for Congress and the General Assembly.
But unlike the last round of redistricting, in which state lawmakers were tasked with creating additional districts to protect the voting power of Black Georgians, this time the Republican-controlled Legislature may choose to strip electoral power away from minority voters to gain a partisan advantage.
Strong Republican early voting turnout driven by two high-profile statewide runoffs is putting a Democratic-leaning state Senate seat in metro Atlanta within striking distance for a GOP candidate just as lawmakers prepare to convene for a special session. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Alander Rocha
Democrats worry a wave of early voters in runoffs for the governor’s office and U.S. Senate could flip a Gwinnett County-based state Senate district just as lawmakers prepare to convene for a special session.
Out of over 300,000 ballots cast statewide during early voting as of Thursday, nearly 66% came from Republicans, who are outvoting Democrats by a 2-to-1 margin due to competitive GOP primary runoffs for the U.S. Senate and the governor’s mansion. In Gwinnett County, where Senate District 7 sits, about 17,000 ballots have been cast as of Thursday, and like the rest of the state, about two-thirds came from Republican voters.
An Ultimate Fighting Championship ring on the White House South Lawn on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
By Ashley Murray
Advertisements for Polymarket and Bud Light lined an eight-sided cage on the White House grounds Thursday ahead of a series of mixed martial arts fights scheduled for Sunday, President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, and billed as a celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
The Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship company, whose chief executive is an ally of the president’s, will stage the seven-fight card that has drawn curiosity, outrage, a legal challenge and lots of money.
The Marietta City Council got an earful Wednesday from hundreds of people unhappy with plans to allow a data center within the city. It's the latest chapter in Georgia residents fighting against companies building the massive tech facilities in their towns.
The council unanimously approved the plan last June with little fanfare, but opposition has mounted after plans came to light on social media.
The council was not scheduled to vote on the plan and no action was taken, but residents complained the project would use up water and pollution and harm their property values and quality of life.
Video by Georgia Recorder intern Ellie Fivas.
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