Georgia
Georgia GOP lawmakers push revised political maps toward passage to meet court’s looming deadline – Georgia Recorder
Georgia Republican lawmakers Thursday advanced through Senate and House committees new legislative district maps after rejecting proposed maps that Democratic legislators contend better comply with a federal court order to create seven new majority Black legislative districts.
The pair of House and Senate district maps endorsed by state Republican lawmakers appear to be on the fast track to a Friday vote in the Senate and House chambers, a week ahead of a Dec. 8 deadline that U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones set for the state to have new maps ready ahead for the 2024 election.
The GOP maps were approved on Thursday along political party line votes by House and Senate redistricting committees that met on the second day of the special redistricting legislative session.
Senate and House Republicans argue that their revised legislative districts comply with the court mandate to carve out seven new majority Black legislative districts west and south of metro Atlanta and in the Macon-Bibb County area. The Democrats say they’re backing a redistricting plan that is better designed stand up to a judge’s scrutiny. If the state doesn’t adopt new maps by next week that remedy the dilution of Black voting power, the court could draw up Georgia’s new districts.
The Republican-drawn maps have been criticized by voting rights groups and Democratic legislators for shifting a large number of Black voters from predominantly Black districts to create new majority Black district boundaries.
Jones ruled last month that Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when it redrew voting maps in 2021 in a way that diluted the power of Black voters. The 2021 redistricting effort followed a 2020 Census count that showed Georgia’s rapid growth over the previous decade was largely due to an influx of Black people and other minorities.
Gainesville Republican Sen. Shelly Echols, who chairs the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, said that the revised GOP map follows the court’s order by increasing the majority Black districts from 13 to 15 through forming new districts along south metro Atlanta.
Athens Republican Sen. Bill Cowsert said he appreciated the passionate comments made by his Democratic counterparts about the long sordid history of voter suppression that Black people have faced in Georgia. However, he said, the state has made considerable strides in removing barriers to the ballot box.
“I think we’re selling ourselves short not to acknowledge and recognize the progress that we have made as a state in working together in stopping our past practices of discrimination,” Cowsert said. “And now we are hearing today the echoes of these arguments resonate still (even though) our behavior has changed.”
Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, a Stone Mountain Democrat, presented at Thursday’s meeting a 56 district map that only affects the ten districts that Jones identified as being racially discriminatory to Black voters.
The Democratic Senate map creates two new majority Black districts south of Atlanta that will include nearly 150,000 Black voters who currently reside in minority Black districts.
Democrats are proposing to form a new District 16 that would encompass portions of Fayette County, south Fulton County, and northeast Coweta County along I-85. Approximately 52% of the new district’s residents would be Black voting age population, living in cities including Fairburn, Union City, and Newnan.
Democrats have also proposed creating another new district that is expected to give a slight edge of 51% to Black voters in a suburban south Atlanta district. The plan is to return the 17th district closer to the boundaries in place during the prior decade when Henry County accounted for the largest percentage of voters.
Butler said her party’s maps factored in that over the past decade a decline in Henry County’s white population coincided with a steep increase in Black residents.
Democrats propose forming the new majority Black district by shifting residents from southwest Henry into a district that includes Stockbridge, Locust Grove and Hampton, three cities along I-75. The maps would also shift all of Morgan County and part of Walton County back into a more rural district.
“It was possible to create a new majority Black district from a core of Henry County in 2021 and instead Republicans gerrymandered 19,000 Black voters from Henry into a white dominated 25th district,” Butler said.
Jones has said the revised district boundaries should reflect the state’s rising Black population and give them a fair chance of electing their preferred candidates. Democrats have long been favored by Black voters at higher rates than Republican candidates.
On Thursday, Sen. Michael Rhett, a Black Marietta Democrat first elected in 2014, said he’ll have a hard time explaining to his constituents why the Republicans’ plans call for reducing the Black population in his district from 40% to 32%. Rhett said that shrinking the Black voting bloc that low would diminish his chances of getting re-elected next year and lowers the ability of minority voters to have significant influence in other elections.
“Basically what it does mean is that the people in my district would be disenfranchised,” Rhett said at Thursday’s Senate committee meeting.
GOP map primed for House showdown
A House panel advanced that chamber’s Republican-drawn map Thursday afternoon with a 9-to-5 vote after a meeting that mostly focused on the House Democrats’ counter proposal.
Thursday’s committee vote tees up the House map for a vote by the full chamber potentially as soon as Friday.
House Minority Leader James Beverly and other Democrats argue that the House GOP’s plans will not pass muster if submitted as is to the judge.
“We have delivered a map that we are sure complies with the judge’s order. Y’all have not,” Beverly said to the committee.
Beverly said Republicans could address the problem by sacrificing a Republican incumbent south of Atlanta. But as it is, he argued the GOP map puts the entire 180-member body at risk of having the judge or a special master draw new maps that may have little regard for incumbency.
Specifically, an attorney for House Democrats, Bryan Sells, says that even though the GOP map creates the required five majority Black House districts, it dismantles two minority opportunity districts in metro Atlanta.
But Republicans criticized the state House map presented by Democrats because they said it does not create five districts where more than 50% of the population is home to Black voters. One of the five districts in the Democrats’ map is just short of that threshold, but Beverly defended it as offering a Black plurality that would satisfy the judge’s order.
“In describing the remedy, (Jones) used the ‘majority Black’ terminology, but what Section 2 requires, and what would be lawful, is five additional opportunity districts,” Sells said.
Still, Rep. Rob Leverett, an Elberton Republican who is chairing the House Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, countered that he was uneasy trying to interpret Jones’ words any other way than what showed up in the order.
“I am leery of construing a judge’s order in a way that I feel maybe could lead me to jeopardy,” Leverett said.
The Democrats’ proposal would have changed boundary lines for 23 districts, as opposed to 56 districts in the GOP map. Some voting rights advocates have criticized the Republican-drawn map for making unnecessary geographic boundary changes that were not targeted in the judge’s order to make up for political ground ceded when creating the five majority Black districts.
House Republican leaders have said they are trying to comply with the judge’s order even as they appeal the ruling.
Troy’s season-long improvement continued on Saturday, resulting in a 28-20 victory at Georgia Southern.
Matthew Caldwell passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more for the Trojans, who won their second straight game. Troy (3-7, 2-4 Sun Belt Conference) outscored the homestanding Eagles 21-10 in the second half, knocking them out of first place in the Sun Belt East Division.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” first-year Troy coach Gerad Parker said in his post-game interview on ESPN+. “I hold back tears and everybody called me soft, but this is an emotional game.
“We’ve been at the depths of hell (at) the start of this year. When you visit a place like that, there’s only one choice. You got to get your team out of it and have belief from these guys. … These guys have been unbelievable. Our staff and our players, how they’ve been resilient at all tells you something that’s good about college football.”
Caldwell’s 2-yard touchdown run gave Troy the lead for good at 21-17 with 13:34 left in the game. After the Eagles (6-4, 4-2) pulled within 21-20 on Gavin Stewart’s 45-yard field goal with 10:34 to play, the Trojans killed most of the clock with a 16-play, 75-yard drive ending in Caldwell’s 1-yard run and an eight-point lead with 2:32 remaining.
Caldwell ended the game 26-for-32 for 288 yards and two touchdowns, a 6-yarder to Brody Dalton in the second quarter and a 4-yarder to Devonte Ross in the third. The Trojans outgained the Eagles 441 yards to 246, with ill-timed penalties contributing to the first three Georgia Southern scores.
Georgia Southern went up 7-0 late in the first, with Josh Dallas scoring on a 4-yard run. That drive was kept alive by five Troy penalties, including a pass interference call in the red zone.
Stewart’s 21-yard field goal gave the Eagles a 10-7 lead at the half. After Troy went up 14-10 on Caldwell’s second TD pass, Georgia Southern took back the lead at 21-17 on Jalen White’s 1-yard run with 2:34 left in the third.
Georgia Southern never came close to tying the game in the final minutes, as Justin Powe’s diving interception gave Troy the ball back at the Eagles’ 48 with 1:56 left. Caldwell connected with Dalton on a 23-yard pass to convert third-and-7 and help run out the clock.
Ross caught 10 passes for 95 yards, while Damien Taylor ran for 92 yards on 18 carries. Gerald Green added a 33-yard run to help set up a touchdown, with tight ends Dalton and Ethan Conner combined for six receptions for 87 yards.
Troy went 11-for-14 on the third down in the game and ran 73 plays to just 48 for Georgia Southern. Linebacker Jordan Stringer led the Troy defensive effort with seven tackles and a sack, while freshman linebacker Jabril McNeil had two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.
Troy began the season 1-7, but beat Coastal Carolina 38-24 on Nov. 2 before its bye week. Since halftime of a 34-31 loss to Arkansas State on Oct. 26, the Trojans have outscored their opponents 82-55.
“They played team football and played for Troy and each other,” Parker said. “They’re starting to really feel that together and it feels great to sleep, but I’m just so happy for our guys.”
Troy is back in action at Louisiana next Saturday. That game kicks off at 4 p.m. and will be streamed live via ESPN+.
The No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs have a huge game against the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers and Carson Beck’s sister Kylie Beck is certainly hyped for it.
The 19-year-old sophomore UGA cheerleader and sister of the team’s star quarterback has been crushing it all season in and out of her uniform.
While Kylie has upstaged Carson’s girlfriend Hanna Cavinder in her cheerleader uni and showed off the full splits in her “Dance Dawgs basketball fit, she’s also slayed in a cowgirl look in Texas, and flaunted her flawless legs in Florida. On Friday, Kylie was even bold enough to show her makeup-free mirror selfie for the world to see.
Viral Alabama cheerleader Lily Garofalo stuns in uniform mirror selfie
For Saturday’s big game, Kylie posted another cheerleader shot and captioned it, “ We are 🔙 Sanford #noplacelikehome #gameday.”
Gracie Hunt’s sister Ava posts cheerleader selfie to hype SMU football game
She’s definitely game ready with those flawless abs and sparkly fit.
Georgia is coming off a crushing loss vs Ole Miss and is in an almost must-win game if it hopes to make the college football playoffs. Whether or not the team loses on the field, Kylie already secured a win Saturday with her cheerleader uniform selife.
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Georgia
What channel is Tennessee football vs Georgia on today? Time, TV schedule to watch Week 12 game
Tennessee football has a crucial game and a chance to take a step toward the SEC Championship Game when it plays Georgia on Saturday in Athens.
The Vols (8-1, 5-1 SEC) can ensure they finish ahead of the Bulldogs in the SEC with a win while also pushing their rivals on the brink of elimination from playoff contention. UT will secure a SEC title game berth by winning at Georgia and Vanderbilt. QB Nico Iamaleava is questionable to play on Saturday after suffering a concussion last week.
Georgia (7-2, 5-2 SEC) is coming off of a 28-10 loss to Ole Miss last week, slipping outside of the top 10 in the latest CFP rankings.
Here’s how to watch the Tennessee football vs. Georgia game today, including time, TV schedule and streaming information:
Watch Georgia vs. Tennessee live on Fubo (free trial)
Tennessee vs. Georgia will broadcast nationally on ABC in Week 12 of the 2024 college football season. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will call the game from the booth at Sanford Stadium, with Holly Rowe reporting from the sidelines. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.
- Date: Saturday, Nov. 16
- Start time: 7:30 p.m.
The Tennessee football vs. Georgia game starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday from Sanford Stadium in Athens.
Knox News reporter Mike Wilson’s prediction: Georgia 24, Tennessee 20
Tennessee’s offense is looking better lately, but the Vols haven’t played a road game since Arkansas in early October. Georgia was a house of horrors in 2022 for Tennessee and its CFP hopes. It will be that again.
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Friday, Nov. 15
- Odds: Georgia -9.5
- O/U: 47.5 points
- Money line: Georgia -375, Tennessee +300
- Aug. 31: Chattanooga, W 69-3
- Sept. 7: vs. NC State in Charlotte, W 51-10
- Sept. 14: Kent State, W 71-0
- Sept. 21: at Oklahoma, W 25-15
- Sept. 28: OPEN DATE
- Oct. 5: at Arkansas, L 19-14
- Oct. 12: Florida, W 23-17 OT
- Oct. 19: Alabama, W 24-17
- Oct. 26: OPEN DATE
- Nov. 2: Kentucky, W 28-18
- Nov. 9: Mississippi State, W 33-14
- Nov. 16: at Georgia, 7:30 p.m. on ABC
- Nov. 23: UTEP, 1 p.m. on ESPN+ and SEC Network+
- Nov. 30: at Vanderbilt, TBD
- Dec. 7: SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, 4 p.m. on ABC
Record: 8-1 (5-1 SEC)
- Aug. 31: vs. Clemson in Atlanta, W 34-3
- Sept. 7: Tennessee Tech, W 48-3
- Sept. 14: at Kentucky, W 13-12
- Sept. 21: OPEN DATE
- Sept. 28: at Alabama, L 41-34
- Oct. 5: Auburn, W 31-13
- Oct. 12: Mississippi State, W 41-31
- Oct. 19: at Texas, W 30-15
- Oct. 26: OPEN DATE
- Nov. 2: vs. Florida in Jacksonville, W 34-20
- Nov. 9: at Ole Miss, L 28-10
- Nov. 16: Tennessee, 7:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+
- Nov. 23: UMass, 12:45 p.m. on SEC Network
- Nov. 29: Georgia Tech, 7:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+
- Dec. 7: SEC Championship Game, 4 p.m. on ABC
Record: 7-2 (5-2 SEC)
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