Every ten years we have a census in the United States. The purpose of the census is to determine the number of representatives from each state in the US House of Representatives. States and local governments also use the census to redraw the political districts, from Congress to County Commissions and many more.
The Supreme Court has established a rule commonly known as, “one man, one vote” for political districts. That simply means that each district must have an equal number of voters.
Georgia has 14 Congressional Districts. The statewide population is 10,711,908. Divide that by 14 and you get 765,136 per district. The 2nd district will need to add at least 73,000 more to reach the 765,136 per district.
How do you add 73,000 people to the 2nd district? We will have to expand to take in other areas of the 3rd or 8th districts. I first mentioned this in my article, “Considering Another Run in 2022” posted on March 3. I encourage you to look at that article for an overview of the redistricting process.
I have some more information that gives us some reasons to be optimistic for redistricting in the 2nd District. I looked at the percentage of vote for Donald Trump, David Perdue, and Bubba McDonald in the November 2020 election.
Let us look at this map together. Every county bordering the 2nd district voted overwhelmingly Republican.
The 2nd District will have to take in some of these areas. It is not a question of if we will take in Republican voters. It is a question of which Republican voters and how many. At this point in time no one knows, and we just must wait on more specifics from the census.
That brings me to another point at the personal level. I have not decided about whether I will run in 2022 again. Redistricting is a major factor.
I live in Crisp County, and you can see that we are like a peninsula in the 8th district. Crisp and Dooly counties could very well end up being in the 8th district.
I can say with certainty that if redistricting puts Crisp into the 8th, then I will not be running for Congress. I know that the law does not require a member of Congress to live in the district, but do not tell me that out of ¾ of a million people in the district you cannot find a good candidate.
No matter what happens with any one individual county, there is good reason for optimism in the 2nd District.
While you patiently wait on the final census numbers, talk to your state legislators. We have been at the bottom of the totem pole for too long.
Give us a turn and give us a chance to elect someone who will be a champion for Southwest Georgia and real economic development. We need someone who will spend more time working to improve our economy than improving his golf game.
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