The Republican-controlled state House and Senate approved new district maps Thursday (see below) that were identical to what the party had proposed four days ago when a special legislative session began.

The redistricting special session continues Thursday for lawmakers at the state Capitol, with both the House and Senate chambers set for votes on the new maps. Under the proposed House map, Democrats would keep multiple seats in the Savannah and Columbus areas. But many changes will either favor Republican incumbents or boost the number of GOP-leaning districts.

Proposed House legislative maps would change both rural and urban districts. The one common denominator is that the party in charge, the Republicans, wants to maximize its number of seats. Many of the proposed changes will either favor Republican incumbents or boost the number of Republican-leaning districts.

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert beat former Mayor Jack Ellis in a runoff election Tuesday. The race was close with Reichert getting just 51 percent of ballots cast. With no Republican on the November ballot Reichert will serve a second term in office. The runoff election also included a race for Senate District 26.

State Republicans handling redistricting rejected alternative district maps presented by Democrats late Tuesday. That's even though the Democratic maps would have kept Republican strongholds, and maintained that party's wide majority.