(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Morning Digest: Georgia Democrat to run for gerrymandered House seat that could be struck down [1] ['Daily Kos Staff'] Date: 2023-09-11 The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team. Subscribe to The Downballot, our weekly podcast x Embedded Content Leading Off ● GA-06: Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson has announced that she'll seek the Democratic nomination to face Republican Rep. Rich McCormick in a conservative Georgia constituency that civil rights advocates hope will soon look considerably different. The current version of the 6th District is a predominantly white seat that supported Donald Trump 57-42, but June's Supreme Court decision striking down Alabama's congressional map could also result in the Peach State needing to draw another majority-Black constituency in the Atlanta area. The federal trial over the Republican-drawn map began Tuesday, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitutional writes that it's set to last for a total of two weeks. Richardson herself is no stranger to the impact of GOP gerrymandering, though, as her county is currently trying to fight off the legislature's attempt to draw her out of her current job a few years after she won a historic victory that helped transform the local government in a community that was a populous Republican stronghold for decades. The area was so red that in 1994, a local state representative ominously joked to the New York Times, "If Bill Clinton came into the district, he probably would not see the light of day again." Republicans, who carried the county in every presidential election from 1980 through 2012, secured a majority on the five-member County Commission in 1984 as Ronald Reagan won the county in a 77-23 landslide, and they went into the 2020 election with a 4-1 edge. But Hillary Clinton's 48-46 victory in 2016, as well as Cobb County Democrat Lucy McBath's upset win over GOP Rep. Karen Handel two years later in the old 6th, provided early signs that local Republicans were in trouble as the area became more diverse and highly educated suburbanites revolted against the Trump-era party. Joe Biden prevailed 56-42 here in 2020, a strong showing that both played a key role in his historic statewide win and helped boost county Democrats down the ballot. Two of those Democrats were Richardson, who won 50.5-49.5, and Lisa Cupid, who scored the other pickup that ended the GOP's 36-year commission majority. The elections of Richardson, Cupid, and fellow Democrat Monique Sheffield also ensured that Black women would hold a majority of the commission seats, something that once would have been unthinkable in a place that was a destination point for conservative voters in the era of white flight. (Gwinnett County to the east experienced a similar political metamorphosis.) Republicans, however, did what they could to end Richardson's tenure by passing a map last year that moved her home out of her constituency, and some legal experts have argued the state's residency requirements could force her out of office even before her term is up. The commission's Democratic majority responded by passing its own map that would keep Richardson where she is, and the matter is still in court. Richardson decided not to await the outcome of either map dispute before launching her campaign against McCormick, but she may be in for a tough primary if the congressional map is struck down. The plaintiffs have demonstrated how a new majority-Black 6th District could be drawn in the suburbs west of Atlanta, which would include most of Cobb County and have zero overlap with the current 6th. However, even if the court rules in their favor, the resulting new map could still look somewhat different than their proposal. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein reports that state Sen. Josh McLaurin could run if there's a new seat rooted in the part of Fulton County north of Atlanta. Unnamed allies of McBath, who successfully ran against fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bourdeaux in the Gwinnett County-based 7th after the GOP made the 6th unwinnable, also tell Bluestein she could switch back if there's a favorable map. Governors ● LA-Gov: With a little more than a month to go before the Oct. 14 all-party primary, GOP Treasurer John Schroder is airing a commercial that ties the frontrunner, Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry, to the founder of a law firm that's forbidden from operating in the state. "The largest fraud in Louisiana history," intones the narrator. "Texas attorney Zach Moseley devised a massive fraud scheme to deprive Louisiana homeowners of tens of millions of dollars in insurance claims." He continues by declaring that Landry "took campaign money from Moseley, even after he was sanctioned in federal court." Moseley has been the subject of much media attention in Louisiana over allegations that his firm failed to deposit $20 million worth of insurance checks for clients impacted by hurricanes, with a federal judge declaring last month, "$20 million of Louisiana residents' money is sitting―half these checks are stale now." These stories have rarely if ever mentioned Landry's campaign, though Schroder is hoping his ad will help change that. House ● CA-11: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she'd seek reelection to her dark blue San Francisco constituency, a declaration that means that her many would-be successors will be waiting a while longer before they get an open seat to run for. Other Races ● NJ-LG: Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday that he had chosen Secretary of State Tahesha Way to succeed Lt. Sheila Oliver, who died last month. Way, who earlier this year became the first Black person to lead the National Association of Secretaries of State, was sworn in that day but will continue to hold her appointed post as New Jersey's top elections official. Way is now the third person to ever hold the post of lieutenant governor, a job that came into being four years after the passage of a 2005 constitutional amendment. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/11/2192245/-Morning-Digest-Georgia-Democrat-to-run-for-gerrymandered-House-seat-that-could-be-struck-down Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/