A few months ago, 6th Congressional District Rep. Lucy McBath and 7th Congressional District Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux were colleagues, serving alongside each other in Washington. Today, they are still colleagues, but the picture has changed. They are now headed for a showdown for the Democratic nomination for the newly-drawn 7th Congressional District in the May 24 Primary.
When Georgia state legislators redrew districts recently, McBath decided to jump from the 6th District to the 7th and run against Bourdeaux. Donna McLeod, a former state representative, is also vying for the Democratic nod in that race – but McBath and Bourdeaux are strong favorites. Interestingly however, McLeod is the only one of the three who actually lives in the district. Michael Corbin, Mark Gonsalves, Lisa McCoy, Y.G. Nyghtstorm, and Mary West are running in the Republican primary, but the 7th District seems to be safely Democrat now.
Most political analysts see McBath as the favorite in the race. She has the edge in fundraising over Bourdeaux by about $1 million, and a poll by Data for Progress shows McBath leading Bourdeaux by a 9-percentage-point margin. According to the poll, 22 percent of likely Democratic primary voters are still undecided in this race.
The new 7th District includes 60 percent of the previous district, giving Bourdeaux the edge in representation of the district. Ninety percent of the current district is Gwinnett County, and 10 percent of the current district is Fulton County.
Both Bourdeaux and McBath have pulled in a number of high-profile endorsements, with Bourdeaux endorsed by former Senator Sam Nunn and former Ambassador Andrew Young, and McBath endorsed by the former chairs of the Gwinnett school board and the county commission. McBath grabbed the endorsement of Everytown for Gun Safety – the advocacy organization that endorsed both reps when they ran in separate districts. However, in this Primary, they got behind McBath and even praised her “unflinching leadership.”
According to the Data for Progress poll, a plurality of both men (36 percent) and women (43 percent) back McBath. The poll goes on to say, “There is some polarization in vote preference by race. Forty-seven percent of Black voters prefer McBath while 48 percent of white voters prefer Bourdeaux. McBath has a +14-point advantage with Democratic primary voters who self-identify as liberal, while McBath has a +5-point edge with self-identifying moderates.”
The poll also shows that both McBath and Bourdeaux are viewed favorably by Democratic primary voters in the district. McBath has a +54-point favorable rating and Bourdeaux has a +51-point favorable rating. Currently, 31 percent of those likely voters say they haven’t heard enough to rate Bourdeaux, and 36 percent haven’t heard enough to rate McBath. The third opponent in the race, McLeod, is largely unknown, with 78 percent of likely Democratic primary voters saying they haven’t heard enough to rate her.
McBath is viewed as further to the left than Bourdeaux – whose votes have alienated some progressives. But Bourdeaux has said she “has been a loyal public servant to 7th District voters, highlighting her work in Congress on behalf of voting rights, affordable housing, and her collaboration with Senator Raphael Warnock to expand Medicaid in Georgia.”
Bordeaux won the 7th District seat in 2020 when she defeated Republican Rich McCormick by getting a little over 51 percent of the vote to his 48 percent. McCormick is now running in the 6th District.
