Price, Gingrey Seats to Be Altered

The additional U.S. House seat awarded to Georgia could substantially affect the shape of two of the three Congressional districts covering Cobb County. 

They are the seats occupied by Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell), who represents most of East Cobb and Northeast Cobb in his 6th District, and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta), whose 11th District would get a major redrawing according to maps unveiled Monday. 

(See PDF attachments of current maps and proposals for the metro Atlanta area and state of Georgia for details.)

As noted by the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, not only would House Republicans hold on to their majority under the proposal, but part of the city of Atlanta would have GOP representation for the first time in many years.

That's because Gingrey's 11th would take in portions of Buckhead while retaining the city of Marietta and parts of north and west Cobb. The sprawling district that currently includes Paulding, Bartow, Chattooga, Floyd, Polk and portions of Carroll and Gordon counties would lose most of those outlying areas to the new 14th district. 

The new 11th would keep all of Bartow County and add all of Cherokee County as well as pull in most of the Smyrna and Vinings areas currently in the 13th district seat of Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat. 

While the redrawn 6th district held by Price would also keep most of East Cobb and Northeast Cobb, north Fulton and Dunwoody, it would lose Cherokee. The new seat would take in Sandy Springs and the Brookhaven, Chamblee, Doraville and Tucker areas of DeKalb County. 

As for the changes in Buckhead's representation, WABE quoted Georgia House Redistricting Committee Chairman Roger Lane as saying that "We heard from a lot of folks up there that wanted to be in Phil Gingrey's district. So, that was listening to them."

Scott's 13th district would keep the rest of South Cobb and include all of Douglas County, most of south Fulton and parts of Clayton, Fayette and Henry counties.