ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110049
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
ORDINARILY, easy primary victories Tuesday by a couple of two-term congressional Democrats in Georgia would provide little cause for comment. Barring scandal or some other significant disability, incumbents are expected to win renomination by their own parties.
But the circumstances in which Reps. Cynthia McKinney and Sanford D. Bishop Jr. are campaigning are out of the ordinary. They are the first black members of Congress to run for re-election in districts redrawn by recent court orders from majority black to majority white.
In the Atlanta area, where redistricting changed her constituency from 60 percent black to 32 percent black, McKinney won renomination with 67 percent of the vote against three white Democrats. In rural Southwest Georgia, where redistricting changed his constituency from 52 percent black to 35 percent black, Bishop won renomination with 59 percent of the vote against two white challengers.
That McKinney was renominated by so big a margin particularly came as a surprise. Atlanta has something of a tradition of cross-racial voting. But the outspokenly liberal McKinney - and, ironically in light of Tuesday's returns, a strong supporter of racial gerrymandering - was thought by many to have less appeal for white voters than the more moderate Bishop.
The two have been renominated, not re-elected. They face Republican opposition in November, in a state where the GOP did very well two years ago. Already, though, they have disproved the assumption that black incumbents are doomed if their districts are redrawn from black-majority to black-minority.
"We've gotten to a point where people are being evaluated as individuals," Bishop said. "It's not about where lines are drawn. It's about the quality of service rendered."
Which, of course, is as it should be.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB