More on Redistricting

For what it’s worth, both the ABH’s editorial board and Jason Winders more or less agree with us on the proposed redistricting of Athens’ state senate districts.  Of course, that’s kind of saying the ABH and Jason Winders agree with us that the sun rises in the east.  Everybody knows that the redistricting is a political move.

One interesting angle is how the ABH approaches the situation, by complimenting current Senator Brian Kemp’s service in taking care of Athens and UGA.  Kemp has done pretty well for the University, and it’s a valid point that two senators with part of Athens may not be as effective as one senator who represents the whole thing.

Winders agrees that it’s all political, while admitting that when you control both chambers and the governor’s mansion, you can monkey with the districts all you want, as long as the Feds give you the thumbs-up.  He also thinks, as do we, that Jane Kidd should stay in the race for State Senate, or as Winders puts it, “Kidd needs to step up, not give up.”

And that’s actually something we wanted to address again.  We pretty much said everything we needed to say yesterday, but we did want to add one thing. There’s another reason Jane Kidd should stay in the Senate race, and that is this very issue.  It’s tailor-made to get Athens voters all hacked off at the State Legislature, and Kidd certainly did her part on the House floor to fight this thing down.  Athens-Clarke County tends to be fairly Democratic for sure, and we would wager that Kidd already has 55% - 60% of ACC’s voters sewn up, just by virtue of being a Democrat.  But, an issue like this can activate some of those swing voters that might have been leaning Republican, and pull them over to her side.  The big question is: will any Athens backlash from moderates and swing voters outweigh the traditionally large Oconee County turnout numbers that have put this race in the R column in years past?  Heck, we don’t know.  But if Kidd decides to stay in the race, she’s got an A-1 issue to add to her message.