In a New Years Eve ruling, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Ann Harris effectively removed Democrat Commissioner Jerica Richardson from office and declared her Commission District 2 vacant. “Even without a change in the official’s residence, her eligibility to hold the office can end mid-term with the implementation of a new (legislative redistricting) map that changes the boundaries of the geographical district from which she was elected,” Harris ruled.
This has been a long-standing fight between the Democrat-dominated County Commission and two Cobb Republican state legislators— Reps. Ed Setzler and John Carson. It began during the 2021 General Assembly session when Cobb Republicans, still feeling the sting of losing the Commission majority in the 2020 election, opted to create a new district map drawing Richardson out of her district. This was justified because Richardson moved out of her district and thus was unable to hold office.
“It was a move of seven to eight miles,” said Carson during a committee hearing at the Georgia State Capitol. And he explained to committee members that Richardson would have to move back into the district to comply with the maps the GOP had drawn.
“It must be noted that the Cobb County legislative delegation submitted a Commission map for approval, but it was tossed aside by House and Senate Republicans who were dead-set on targeting Jerica,” said a Democrat Party statement.
Cobb Democrats pushed back against the gerrymandering done by the GOP by passing their own “home rule” map, keeping the districts mostly the same— which meant Richardson kept her seat. But it wasn’t meant to be with Judge Harris now ruling against them.
The bottom line: Richardson’s seat is vacant, and the County Commission will basically stay deadlocked with two Democrats and two Republicans until after a special election to be held on April 29. And Republicans feel they have a chance to flip the seat back to GOP control in such a low-turnout election.
