Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) on Tuesday called on Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) to take up redistricting in Georgia.
Kemp has said he supports redrawing the state’s political boundaries before the 2028 elections, but he recently ruled out taking up redistricting in Georgia before the midterm elections because voting in the state’s 2026 races is already underway. While states such as Louisiana have suspended elections to redistrict, Kemp said he would not take such a measure in Georgia, which has a May 19 primary.
Carter responded by intensifying pressure on Kemp this week to delay the election, arguing that since Georgia is a Republican state, “It should be represented by Republican values.”
“Delay the House primary,” he wrote in a public message to the governor, highlighting an op-ed he wrote on the matter. “Call a special session. Redraw the maps.”
Georgia is in its second week of early voting. The demand from Carter, who is also a Senate candidate, heightens pressure on Kemp to fall in line with red states across the country that have sought to boost the number of Republicans in the House through mid-decade redistricting. Republicans and Democrats have been engaged in a nationwide competition to pick up additional House seats through redrawing boundaries since the Texas GOP passed new maps in 2025, looking to boost the party’s presence in the lower chamber.
A recent ruling from the Supreme Court further galvanized redistricting efforts, as it weakened protections for majority-minority districts. In Louisiana v. Callais, the majority of justices last week agreed that states should be given more freedom to redraw political maps without prioritizing racial outcomes.
Since the ruling, Republicans have expanded calls to redistrict, including in Georgia. The state’s Republicans hold a 9-5 edge in its U.S. House delegation. They are looking to pick up one additional seat by redrawing the district of Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA).
TRUMP SAYS TENNESSEE NEXT TO REDISTRICT AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING AND ‘GIVE US ONE EXTRA SEAT’
“Georgia is at a crossroads, and the choice in front of us is simple: We either fight to win, or we let Democrats tilt the field against us,” Carter wrote in an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Across the country, states are acting,” he continued. “They are redrawing maps, leveling the playing field, and making sure their voters are fully represented. They know what is at stake.”