LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — New congressional districts created by the Georgia legislature would, among other things, create four districts in Gwinnett County alone.
The busy junction between State Route 316 and Sugarloaf Parkway is one of the flashpoints of the new congressional map. District 4 is in the northwest quadrant. District 13 ambles along the southside of Highway 316; and District 9 is on the north side of Sugarloaf Parkway.
Because Gwinnett has nearly a million residents and plenty of communities of color – Republican lawmakers saw it as a useful spot to draw new court-ordered congressional districts and still preserve the GOP’s majority in the congressional delegation.
"With this map, Gwinnett County loses," Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chair Nicole Hendrickson said Friday. She thinks the GOP mapmakers did a disservice to her Democratic leaning county.
The new map divides territory in Gwinnett County to four of Georgia’s 13 congressional districts – two held by Democrats Hank Johnson and David Scott, and two held by Republicans Andrew Clyde and Mike Collins. All of them hail from communities outside of Gwinnett County.
"Not a single congressional person lives in the county. So essentially they wouldn’t represent our voice, our values in congress. Because they don’t live in the county," said Hendrickson.
While most of Georgia’s 159 counties don’t have hometown members of congress, Gwinnett County is the state’s second largest county.
But at the Capitol, Republican state Rep. Soo Hong (R-Lawrenceville) predicted Gwinnett residents would actually benefit from hosting four separate congressional districts.
"As a Gwinnett resident, I like and will appreciate the attention the county will get now with four members of Congress watching out for the needs of our county," Hong told the House shortly before it approved the map Thursday.
Residents may be able to figure it out for themselves if a federal court approves the new map.