Redistrict

That includes targeting one or both of the Democratic incumbents who recently flipped Gop-controlled U.S. House seats: U.S. Rep. Lucy Mcbath captured a district spanning Atlanta’s northern suburbs in 2018, and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux won a Gwinnett County-based seat last year.

Though Georgia voters were nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats in last year’s presidential election, the GOP will attempt to build on its leads across congressional and legislative districts.

Republicans hold eight of Georgia’s 14 seats in the U.S. House, a 57% majority in the 180-seat state House and a 61% advantage in the 56-seat state Senate. The new maps will be used by voters across the state in next year’s elections.

The governor has faced demands to expand the scope of the special session beyond redistricting.

From his right flank, pro-donald Trump legislators repeating false claims of rampant election fraud want him to add more voting-related legislation or a review of the 2020 results to the docket.

Trump added to that call in a radio interview Thursday.

“He doesn’t want to do it,” Trump told host John Fredericks, referring to Kemp. “It’s almost like he’s a Democrat in disguise.”

State election officials have said there’s no indication of fraud after three ballot counts and multiple investigations and court challenges.

Democrats, meanwhile, urged the governor to include Medicaid expansion so more Georgians have health coverage. Kemp has long opposed such a move, saying it would be too costly in the long run.

In a surprise, Kemp did not ask lawmakers to debate new penalties to fight crime during the special session. The governor previously said he would issue such a call, citing a historically deadly 2020 crime rate in Atlanta, along with an uptick in violence in more rural areas.

But his office indicated Thursday that he’ll ask lawmakers to debate a package of Kemp’s proposals during the General Assembly’s regularly scheduled annual session in January.

Kemp’s proclamation is also crafted in a way that appears to leave the door open to a potential vote on Buckhead cityhood, though the governor’s office offered no details.