Under a new congressional district map passed today by a legislative committee, Fayette County won’t have as much of a footprint in the 13th district currently held by Democrat U.S. Rep. David Scott.
State Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, told The Citizen today that the latest map gives Scott’s district about 15 percent of Fayette’s population. In contrast, the first version of the map had put about 35 percent of Fayette County in the U.S. 13th district.
Ramsey noted that the new map eliminates the splitting of both Tyrone and Fayetteville that were proposed on the first map. Both municipalities will remain in the 3rd district, currently held by U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland.
The changes to the map will move about 21,000 people back into the 3rd district, Ramsey said. Currently Fayette County is completely in Westmoreland’s 13th district.
Scott’s district currently has no part of Fayette County, though it previously had one small area in northeast Fayette in its previous incarnation.
Ramsey said both he and Sen. Ronnie Chance, R-Tyrone, had been working on getting the maps amended to keep as much of Fayette County in Westmoreland’s 3rd district as possible. They are hoping to further reduce the 13th’s footprint in Fayette as well, Ramsey said.
The first version of the maps, which had 35 percent of Fayette County moving from the 3rd district to Scott’s 13th district, had both Ramsey and Chance “very concerned,” Ramsey said.
