After the Supreme Court’s decision to severely weaken the Voting Rights Act and its protections of majority-Black congressional districts, several Southern states are rushing to redraw their congressional maps. In Tennessee, the state’s Republican leaders are now pushing a new map that would carve up Memphis and Shelby County, diluting much of the state’s Black voting power.
Tennessee redistricting plan moving quickly
As The New York Times reported, Tennessee Republicans are poised to break up the state’s only majority-Black congressional district, just one week after the U.S. Supreme Court essentially nullified the Voting Rights Act’s protections for such majority-minority districts. Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who received a call from President Donald Trump shortly after the Supreme Court ruling to pursue redistricting, and the GOP supermajority of the Tennessee General Assembly set about repealing a state law that bans redistricting other than in census years, which occur every ten years. On Thursday afternoon, Republicans passed, and Lee signed into law a new congressional map that splits up the current 9th District by dividing the city of Memphis and Shelby County between three different districts, thus diluting the voting power of the Memphis area’s Black community and likely flipping the state’s only Democratic district for the Republican Party.
Democrats protest moves to dilute Black voting power
Given Republican control of the governor’s office and the state’s legislature, Tennessee Democrats had little direct power to stop the redistricting process. Nonetheless, opponents made their voices known, with hundreds of protestors showing up in Nashville to demonstrate at the Capitol. The protests brought together rivals within the party, including Rep. Steve Cohen, a white Democrat who currently represents the 9th District, and State Rep. Justin Pearson, who is challenging Cohen in the Democratic primary; the two politicians attended a rally together to protest the redistricting.
On social media, Cohen called the GOP congressional map “insane,” saying, “It’s a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the Black community’s and our entire city’s voice.”
Pearson, who rose to national prominence when he and another Black representative, Justin Jones, were expelled from the Tennessee legislature for protesting for gun control, told a reporter that he was protesting to “stop the racist gerrymandering that is being proposed.” Pearson also called out Trump for his involvement in the redistricting push in Tennessee, saying, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist, domestic terrorist who is seeking to destroy our democracy by any means necessary.”
Supreme Court ruling sparks Republican race to remove Black districts
The quick movement by Tennessee Republicans has made the state the first to redistrict after the Supreme Court ruled in April to eliminate a second majority-Black district in Louisiana and significantly weaken the provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that protects majority-minority districts. Immediately after the court’s ruling, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry postponed the state’s House primaries, which were already in progress, in order to redraw the state’s map. Other GOP-dominated states, such as Alabama and South Carolina, have also started processes to redraw their congressional districts. Republicans appear confident and even boastful in their efforts; Tennessee Republican State Rep. Todd Warner wore a Trump 2024 flag as a cape as he walked into the legislative chamber to vote for the redistricting plan.
With the president and the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court approving of these efforts, a number of majority-Black congressional districts will likely be weakened or eliminated. That process may have already been completed in Tennessee. However, the new map faces legal challenges, such as an emergency petition filed by the NAACP to block the new map from being implemented.
For now, however, the Tennessee Republican Party appears to have succeeded in its efforts to break up the state’s Black-dominated congressional district. If this effort holds up, likely, it will further encourage other Republicans who have jumped at the opportunity to eliminate or dilute their states’ predominantly Black districts.o eliminate or dilute their states’ predominantly Black districts.