Georgia GOP governor 'juicing Dem turnout' with latest map move: constitutional law expert

Conservative GOP Gov. Brian Kemp called for a special session in the Georgia State Assembly to redraw electoral maps. And a constitutional law expert is baffled by Kemp's decision.

Anthony Michael Kreis, in a post on X, argued, "I do not understand the governor's decision to call the General Assembly into session to redraw maps now — he's juicing Democratic turnout. Incumbents are going to take the hit unless Tuesday's voters come in huge numbers and are very different."

Attorney Alan Poole, in response to Kreis' tweet, posted, "I think he thinks this is the last chance their party will have for the time being."

The special session, set for June 17, follows the U.S. Supreme Court's hotly debated ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.

Many conservatives and libertarians are applauding the decision, but critics say that it decimates the protections Black voters have enjoyed under the Voting Rights Act. Some voting rights experts are warning that the Callais ruling will erase congressional and state legislature districts that have large Black populations.

MS NOW's Ja'han Jones is highly critical of Kemp's decision to call the June 17 session.

In a biting MS NOW column, Jones wrote, "Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is officially joining the GOP’s push to reinstitute Jim Crow governance after conservative Supreme Court justices opened the door to racist gerrymandering with their decision in the Callais v. Louisiana case…. And now — amid what some people fear could be the largest purge of Black lawmakers from Congress since the Jim Crow era — Kemp is planning yet another assault on Black political power."

GOP and Democratic strategists both see Georgia as crucial in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

Georgia, once a deep red state, has evolved into a swing state in recent years — and its political landscape has grown increasingly complex and unpredictable. While Kemp is a non-MAGA conservative without being a full-fledged Never Trumper, both of its U.S. senators are Democrats: the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who is up for reelection this year.

Kemp's allies hoped he would run for the Senate and take on Ossoff, and GOP strategists believe Trump would have a good shot against the incumbent Democrat. But the two-term governor has no interest in running for the Senate. And because he is term-limited, Kemp cannot run in Georgia's gubernatorial race this year.

Georgia's political complexity is also evident in its performance in presidential elections. After carrying Georgia in 2016, President Donald Trump lost it to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 — only to win Georgia a second time in 2024. But the election results were close, as Trump's margin of victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was roughly 2 percent.