Georgia Gov. Kemp rejects special session to block Bottoms ahead of election

For the first time in 24 years, the keys to Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion are changing parties, and outgoing Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has decided not to use his final weeks in office to constrain the woman who will replace him. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democrat who defeated Republican Rick Jackson on Tuesday night, will become the state’s first Black woman governor when she is sworn in — and she will walk into office without Republican lawmakers having had a last-chance special session to redraw political maps or trim the powers of her office.

Kemp announced Wednesday that he will not call the Georgia General Assembly back to Atlanta for that purpose, The Hill reported. “I will not be calling a special session of the Georgia General Assembly in order to curtail executive branch powers or debate redistricting changes,” he wrote in a statement. “The voters of our state have spoken.” He added that as long as he remains governor, the state will “always respect the results of secure, accessible, and fair elections, and also abide by the laws and constitution of our state.”

This matters right now because a special session in the lame-duck window would have handed Republican legislators a final lever over a governor-elect from the opposing party — and because the same session had been eyed as a vehicle for redrawing Georgia’s district lines ahead of the 2028 elections. Kemp’s refusal closes both doors, at least for now, and sets the terms of an orderly transfer of power in a state where Democrats swept the statewide executive races on Election Day, according to WRDW.

Kemp rejects special session as Bottoms flips GA governor | FOX 5 News

A Mansion That Flips for the First Time Since 1998

Bottoms’ victory ended 24 years of Republican control of the governor’s office, the first time a Democrat has won the Peach State’s top job since 1998, according to the National Governors Association. Bottoms will become the nation’s first Black woman governor.

Kemp struck a conciliatory tone toward the incoming administration and his own party. In remarks reported by WRDW, he congratulated Bottoms and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who held his seat, and he thanked Jackson and other GOP candidates for their “spirited campaigns.” “Republicans now have the opportunity, and responsibility, to heed the will of voters and learn from last night’s results,” he said. “I firmly believe the conservative principles of our party lead to greater freedom, security, and prosperity for all Americans — and it’s time we get back to those principles in the months and years to come.”

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How the Redistricting Fight Got Here

The special session Kemp declined had its roots months earlier. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Voting Rights Act, and Republican lawmakers in Georgia responded by pressing for a special session to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district lines, WRDW reported. In June, Kemp scheduled exactly that session, urging lawmakers to reconvene to “consider enacting, revising, repealing, or amending general law for the division of the State into appropriate districts” before 2028. He argued the high court’s ruling “requires” Georgia to adopt new maps — but he conceded it was already too late to redraw the lines in time for May’s primaries.

The effort stalled anyway. Republicans tabled the redistricting plan, with Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns saying it “was not the right path forward for our state at the time.” Burns added that “changes to our district maps have the potential to impact every voter in Georgia, and they deserve the same thoughtful, fact-driven process that has always guided the House,” and said the chamber planned meetings to hear from voters on the issue. Though Kemp publicly disagreed with tabling the measure, he maintained that redistricting was ultimately the Georgia Legislature’s responsibility, not his to force through by executive call.

Georgia Gov. Kemp rejects special session to block Bottoms ahead of election — Photo: ajc.com

One Door Left Open Before January

Kemp did leave a narrow opening for lawmakers to return before Bottoms takes office — but only on money, not maps or executive authority. He noted that the state’s finances may need to be addressed before the regular session begins in January, a point WRDW also carried: budget problems may need attention in the weeks ahead. That means the General Assembly could still convene on the state’s books, but not, in Kemp’s words, to “curtail executive branch powers or debate redistricting changes.”

What happens next is already on the calendar: Bottoms takes the oath in January, the regular legislative session follows, and any redistricting fight — which Kemp says Georgia must complete before the 2028 election cycle — will now unfold with a Democrat in the governor’s office rather than against a lame-duck Republican trying to shape the battlefield in advance. Whether the Legislature picks up the map-drawing fight on its own remains the open question, and Burns’ earlier comments suggest House Republicans intend to handle it through public hearings rather than a rushed special session.