Ga. State Rep. Simone Bell (D-Atlanta), the first openly lesbian African-American state legislator in the country, faces a major challenge in her re-election bid. But it isn’t her opponent, it’s her new district, Bell told the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Georgia on May 12.
Republicans control the Georgia General Assembly, and thus controlled redistricting in the wake of the 2010 U.S. Census. Bell was one of several Democratic lawmakers drawn into a district with another incumbent.