Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) has called a legislative special session on redistricting in Georgia for the 2028 election cycle.
The announcement of the special session, set to start on June 17, comes as Georgia’s GOP has put mounting pressure on Kemp to suspend the state’s 2026 primaries and redraw the congressional map for this year’s midterm election cycle amid a nationwide redistricting effort. The session will convene one month after the state’s May 19 primary elections, and any new changes to the maps would take effect in the 2028 cycle.
The special session, according to Kemp’s Wednesday proclamation, will be used for “enacting, revising, repealing, or amending” the maps of the state’s U.S. congressional and state legislature districts. Kemp specifically detailed that he was convening the special session “in light of the United States Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais,” which struck down race-based redistricting in the country.
Kemp’s fellow GOP members were urging the governor to take action this year, so the announcement is likely to come as a disappointment to those urging him to expedite the process.
Several states, including nearby Mississippi, have been considering the question of when to redraw their maps given the country is in the thick of the 2026 primary season, with every House seat up for election. In Mississippi, where primaries have already occurred, Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) said today that redistricting in the state is “not a question of if. It’s a question of when.”
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Lawmakers will also discuss the state’s election laws during the special session, with Kemp writing that he expects the legislature “to address issues created by” a 2024 election law that has an effective date of July 1, 2026.
The 2024 election law addresses matters such as the use of QR codes when tallying ballots, voting for the state’s homeless population, rules surrounding the counting of absentee ballots, and third-party candidates on the state’s future presidential election ballots. The focus of the second part of the special session will be on how to transition away from using QR codes to tally ballots and instead to direct paper ballots, in line with the 2024 elections act.