The AJC picked up on a clear stacked deck in Fulton County, where the new map would give Republicans a good shot at breaking off the northern end to recreate Milton County, something that's been discussed for years.
Something of the opposite strategy is at play in Macon and Bibb County, where city-county consolidation has been blocked in the Senate because there were only two Bibb senators in the body. Such local legislation generally needs a majority vote from local legislators to pass.
With only two senators of opposing parties, that's difficult to come by. The proposed new map would solve that by drawing a third district into a northern sliver of Bibb, as seen in this closeup:
Based on the demographics of the 18th, 25th and 26th Senate districts, you're likely to see** two Republicans and one Democrat (from the 26th - Robert Brown's old seat) in Bibb's local Senate delegation. That doesn't guarantee a successful vote to put city-county consolidation before local voters in a referendum, because local Republicans have their own issues with consolidation.
But it helps, particularly as state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, continues to push the issue from his north Bibb County House seat. More broadly, the new map would do away with a fundamental difficulty in the way the districts have been drawn: That one man could block local legislation in the Senate.
**Update: After talking to Bill Knowles, a Republican activist/writer/operative in Bibb County, "likely" may have been too strong a word when it comes to the 26th remaining a Democratic district. Bill says a couple of highly Republican precincts shifted to the 26th. Enough to move the district? Hard to say.
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