New Maps Set to Increase GOP Power in Fulton

North Fulton's incumbent state legislators, all Republicans, are in safe, fairly familiar districts under draft maps of new Georgia political boundaries. The maps would also bring more white Republican state legislators into Fulton, as Cobb and Gwinnett lawmakers pick up bits of the county. That may be important when it comes to federal approval of maps or future decisions about Fulton County Schools or Milton County.

All of North Fulton will remain reliably red under the new maps. Further south, blue areas remain generally blue. But because more Republicans are getting pieces of Fulton, the result of the map will flip the balance of power in the county's legislative team. One Buckhead Senate seat is probably competitive, but even if it stays blue, Fulton's team will include more GOP than Democrats.

That matters because it's a county's team that generally decides on so-called local legislation, bills that affect only one county or city. For Fulton, those are issues like some aspects of school board governance and the proposal to put the question of creating Milton County before the voters. Republicans will dominate those decisions.

The new maps are products of the Georgia Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office.  Every 10 years, the State Legislature must redraw all political boundaries based on new U.S. Census data and population shifts. For the first time in living memory, Republican majorities in the House and Senate give them control of the draw.

South Roswell's Rep. Harry Geisinger's redrawn district will unite nearly all the city, and will stretch from the Cobb County line to the Country Club of Roswell. Today, there are multiple splits through town. Neighborhoods south of the Country Club will remain in the district of state Rep. Wendell Willard.

House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones' district will vacate Roswell and concentrate exclusively in Mountain Park and up to her home base of Milton.

Rep. Chuck Martin's Alpharetta-based district will change little; it will still include downtown Alpharetta, but will end along Jones Bridge Road and stop short of Johns Creek.

Johns Creek keeps Rep. Lynne Riley. Her district too is nearly unchanged. It will still end at the Forsyth and Gwinnett borders. She picks up the south end of Medlock Bridge Road. Her south border will be the river.

Along the county borders, a much-edited Cherokee district that contains the home of Rep. Calvin Hillwould pick up a few precincts within the edge of Milton. Rep. Mike Dudgeon of Suwanee picks up about a mile of north Jones Bridge Road neighborhoods within Fulton. Rep. Tom Rice of Norcross is cut out of some of Fulton, but retains a toehold around the Country Club of the South.

In the Senate, North Fulton goes from two state senators to three. Sen. John Albers keeps his Roswell home base, picks up the area toward Mountain Park and more of Johns Creek, but loses part of Alpharetta. Milton stays with the north part of Alpharetta, but both of them would merge into a much-modified 21st district held by Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock. The majority of Johns Creek is cut off from its Fulton neighbors and will mostly stay with Sen. David Shafer of Duluth.

In the U.S. Congress, all of North Fulton is set to remain in the 6th Congressional District, now held by Republican Rep. Tom Price of Roswell. Today Cherokee County is part of the 6th, but it will be severed from Fulton. In return, much of Sandy Springs and part of Buckhead will merge into the North Fulton district. The voting history and predominately white demographics in the newly drafted borders still indicate a GOP shoo-in.

Due to population growth, Georgia will get a 14th U.S. House member. That new district is in the northwest corner of the state.

Gov. Nathan Deal signed the state House and Senate legislative maps on Wednesday, Aug. 24.

All maps that come out of the Georgia Legislature must be sent to Washington D.C. for approval either by a federal judge or the Department of Justice. Georgia, like much of the Deep South, has been put under a provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, triggered by its history of disenfranchising minority voters. The feds must verify that no borders have the motive or effect of diluting minority voting power.

If Washington finds trouble, they can demand a redraw or impose interim maps until Georgia comes up with better districts.

Democratic opponents of the maps argue that Fulton is being illegally packed with Republicans. It's up to the feds to judge that.

For the 2012 election cycle, Georgia's entire legislature — Representatives and Senators — plus all U.S. House members are up for reelection.