POWDER SPRINGS, Georgia – Less than a 30-minute drive from Atlanta, Powder Springs epitomizes the changes that are reshaping Georgia’s politics. Shops and restaurants almost wholly owned by black owners dot the center of town and are frequented by a growing population of young and racially diverse residents. The suburban city elected its first black mayor in 2015 and its county, former Republican stronghold Cobb, voted 14 percentage points for President Biden in 2020.
There’s another big change: Powder Springs, a predominantly black city, will soon be represented in Congress by Marjorie Taylor Greene.
That development, the result of new district maps prepared by Georgia’s state legislatures, was part of a Republican effort to water down Democrats’ power. But for residents, the prospect of Powder Springs and another predominantly black suburb, Austell, being represented by arguably the most far-right Republican in Congress raises questions beyond partisan politics. Some say they have little faith that Ms. Greene will give them the same attention and respect she gives to her white, Republican voters, and fear that their vote in Congress won’t speak for them.
“It’s about having someone who will answer your calls, who will work on your behalf, who will care about what happens to your children, who will make sure you get your job,” said state representative David Wilkerson, a black Democrat who lives and represents the communities now incorporated in Mrs. Greene’s congressional district. “That’s what people are looking for.”
The newly drawn 14th congressional district is the result of a tactic called “squatting,” the practice of splitting blocs of voters and spreading them across multiple districts to reduce their voting power. It is common and legal under federal law unless it is found by a court to be used intentionally to prevent voters of the same race from electing a representative of their choice.
Ms. Greene, who is best known as a social media bomber, has said little about how she would represent the new communities in her district if she wins re-election in November. She did not respond to requests for comment.
In November, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she wasn’t happy her district had been made a little less Republican, calling the redistricting process a “silly message led by power-obsessed state legislators.” Rather than add Democrats to her district, she said, lawmakers should have “strengthened GOP districts for the long haul instead.”
Ms. Greene won her seat by more than 50 percentage points in 2020 and her district will remain bright red under the new maps. It will still stretch through the predominantly white and rural Georgia countryside, all the way to the mountainous border with Tennessee. Powder Springs and Austell, with their combined population of less than 25,000, will stand like a lonely blue corner in a sea of red in the new 14th district.
Sure, many Democratic voters across the country are represented by Republicans, and vice versa. But some voters see Ms. Greene’s Republican brand as a particular affront. The congresswoman has followed the QAnon conspiracy theory and questioned whether the September 11 attack and the school shootings were real — comments that led to her being expelled from congressional committees by the Democratic-led house.
She faces a legal challenge to her candidacy after a group of voters in Georgia filed a lawsuit to remove her from the vote. The group argues that its comments in the days leading up to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, including calling the day “our moment of 1776,” contributed to the uprising. Ms Greene testified that she referred to “the courage to object” to the election results, but did not call for violence.
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In February, Mrs. Greene at a meeting hosted by a prominent white supremacist. She later defended her presence, calling criticism an attempt to “cancel” her.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene represents the antithesis of what we believe,” said Robert Richards, a former Army pilot and police officer in Baltimore who now works as a senior federal government official. He has lived in Powder Springs since 2016. “Her rhetoric, her attitude, her discourse in Congress, her discourse, frankly, as an American, is just something that’s just reprehensible.”
For more than a decade, Powder Springs and Austell have been represented by Representative David Scott, a black Democrat whose district included parts of Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs. Mr. Scott’s new neighborhood now encompasses a greater portion of the suburbs south of Atlanta.
Most people talk to their legislators about routine matters, such as expedited passport renewals, applying for Social Security benefits, questions about veterans’ affairs, or locally focused legislation. Ms. Greene’s ability to legislate has been limited by the loss of her committee duties. Much of the legislation she has sponsored focuses on making political points, such as the “Fire Fauci Act” and a resolution to impeach President Biden. But none of the bills she has sponsored this legislative session are specific to the 14th district.
At a March rally she hosted in her district, she boasted that she had voted down every piece of legislation backed by Democrats.
Mr. Wilkerson, the state legislator, said he was most concerned about a potential disruption in communications between his office and Ms. Greene’s in Washington to address constitutional issues. He said he hadn’t heard from her office since the new cards expired last fall.
Henry Lust, a Powder Springs City Councilor, said: “Our cities are growing, we have important developments that are being put on the table and are starting to be implemented. We have a bright future. We don’t want to derail that bright future.”
Ms. Greene has also alienated some conservatives. She has drawn five Republican challengers to Georgia’s May 24 primaries. One, small business owner Jennifer Strahan has run as a no-drama conservative — helping her get support from several Republican leaders in the district, including four of the five commissioners in one of the largest counties. She says she would reconnect the district with Washington.
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What is reclassification? It is redrawing the boundaries of the congressional and state legislative districts. It happens every 10 years, after the census, to reflect changes in the population.
“By restoring service to this and not being so focused on being a social media celebrity, we can bring value back to people,” said Ms. Strahan, pointing out that she and Ms. Greene share “some overlap” in their beliefs. as conservatives. Mrs. Strahan follows Mrs. Greene in raising funds and struggles to raise her profile.
In Powder Springs and Austell, some residents are organizing to try to flex the political muscle they have. DeBorah Johnson, the chair of the Austell Community Task Force, a quintessentially apolitical community group, has spearheaded a campaign to encourage more voters in Cobb County to vote in next month’s primary. Ms. Johnson said she found the congressman’s comments about the Jan. 6 attack of particular concern.
“She felt like that was just something that should have been swept under the rug and not considered a riot,” Ms Johnson said. “That was big in my eyes.”
A handful of residents, including Mr. Richards, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the new maps of Georgia. The lawsuit, filed in December, argues that the new rules were drawn specifically to reduce black voter influence and violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act by not allowing an additional majority-black district in southern Cobb County. The case is unlikely to be decided before the primaries.
In early April, hundreds of Cobb County residents gathered for the “Taste of Mableton,” a unique spring festival featuring food trucks, live performances and booths for dozens of community groups. The event, set up in the shadow of a large billboard for Mr Scott, aimed to strengthen ties between residents of the small community, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic kept many at bay.
The mention of Mrs. Greene’s new territory next door was greeted with nervous laughter and rolling eyes among those at the festival who were aware of the change. Those who first heard it reacted with outrage and confusion.
Elliott Hennington, a community leader who is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, described the redesigned district as “disgraceful” and “extremely disrespectful” to the voters who are now part of it.
“They were shocked, surprised,” he said in an interview behind the Austell Community Task Force booth. “People just rearrange to meet their own needs without input or buy-in from people in the area — the people who want to be represented fairly and equitably.”
