Click here to see the full metro Atlanta congressional map.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 19, 2024 | Ask the average Gwinnettian who is their representative in Congress, or in the Georgia Legislature, and most people come up blank.
There’s a reason for it. First came the reapportionment that takes place every 10 years after the Census, and the redrawing of district lines so that all the districts have a near equal number of people, both for Congress and the statehouse. For this move, new district maps are presented to the voters.
Then throw in the revamping of these lines by the courts, and what do you have? For Gwinnett’s Congressional Districts, an entirely different map of the districts, far different from the version that was put out by the Legislature. And confusion reigns.
GwinnettForum got caught up in that confusion in the last issue, with us printing incorrectly the names of the candidates seeking to represent us in Congress in the coming election. We apologize for it, and are using this space today to present the correct version.
When we go to the polls in the primary in May, Gwinnett will be nominating Congressional candidates in four districts. They are:
- District 4, from just east of Lilburn, to include mostly unincorporated Gwinnett and the cities of Norcross, Peachtree Corner, Berkeley Lake and Duluth (pink on the accompanying map). The current Fourth District Congressman is Hank Johnson of Decatur, who previously represented much of this area, and is the only Democratic candidate for this seat. The only Republican candidate is Eugene Yu of Duluth, who has run for Congress before. So we have a Johnson-Yu match for the November election.
- District 9 covers most of Gwinnett north of Lawrenceville, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Buford, Braselton and Auburn. The current Ninth District Congressman is Republican Andrew Clyde of Jefferson, who will face Democrat Tambrei Cash of Loganville. Neither have primary opposition. (On the map, this district is light green.)
- District 10 is mostly outside Gwinnett, but covers a small portion of eastern Gwinnett, including the city of Dacula (orange on the map). The current Congressman is Republican Mike Collins of McDonough, who faces no primary challenger. Two Democrats vie for this nomination: Jessica Fore and Alexandra “Lexy” Doherty, both of Athens.
- District 13 covers southern Gwinnett, and the cities of Lilburn, Grayson, Snellville, Loganville and a portion of Lawrenceville (dark yellow on the map.) There are nine—yes nine—candidates for this Congressional seat, including the incumbent, Democrat David Scott of Riverdale, who once represented part of Gwinnett. Six other Democrats seek this seat, including Brian Johnson of Clayton County; Karen Rene of Fulton County; Marcus Flowers of Haralson County; Mark Baker of Bibb County; Rashid Malik of Gwinnett County; and Kamma Uloma of Cobb County. There are two Republicans seeking this position, Jonathan Cruz Fletcher of Cobb County and Jonathan Chavez of Rockdale County.
All together, there are 16 candidates seeking the four Congressional seats representing part of Gwinnett.
First one to tell us that we had the Congressional candidates wrong in the last edition was Republican Jeff Criswell of Cobb County, seeking a Sixth District seat. When we sent an invitation for a 30 minute meeting, he wrote back: “I’m not in Gwinnett, nor is the Georgia Sixth.” We went back and forth several times, with us showing him the map from the Gwinnett County web site, which was a proposed map, and we thought it was the final one. It wasn’t, since afterward, the courts changed the boundaries. Indeed, Criswell is not a candidate to represent part of Gwinnett. Thanks for Curt Yeomans of the GwinnettDailyPost for getting GwinnettForum straight on this.
Interestingly, how about this: Lucy McBath, who represents part of Gwinnett now in the Sixth District, is running again, but in the redrawn Sixth, no longer in Gwinnett. And Rich McCormick of Suwanee, now the Seventh District Congressman, is again running in the Seventh, which does not now include Gwinnett.
So with redistricting, gerrymandering and the courts moving boundaries, you can see why the average person is confused about who their legislator is now, and might be next year. My pardons for helping contribute to the confusion.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us