Tennessee Republicans on Thursday passed a new congressional map that cracks Shelby County, home to majority-Black Memphis, into three separate districts, a move designed to eliminate the state's only remaining Democratic-held congressional seat. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill Thursday afternoon.
The vote came during a rowdy special legislative session called by Lee after the U.S. Supreme Court last week narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which had limited how race could be considered in drawing House district lines. Tennessee became the first state to pass a new congressional map in the wake of that ruling.
Before the map was redrawn, Tennessee's nine-member congressional delegation included eight Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents Memphis and Shelby County. Cohen has said he will sue over the new map.
Republican state Sen. John Stevens of northwest Tennessee was direct about the intent of the new boundaries. "These maps were drawn to maximize our partisan advantage," he said.
The session was anything but orderly. Protesters filled the State Capitol throughout the day, and the audience was ejected during the House vote. Democratic lawmakers walked out when the measure passed. Before the Senate vote, protesters yelled "Don't do this!" Democratic state Sen. London Lamar, who represents Memphis, told Republicans: "You have awakened a sleeping giant today."
State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Memphis Democrat who had been challenging Cohen in a primary, called the new district maps "racist tools of white supremacy." Republican lawmakers have said their goal is partisan rather than racial: to send an all-Republican delegation to Washington.
Before Thursday, the General Assembly had to first pass a separate measure overturning its own ban on mid-decade redistricting. Lee signed that bill as well.
The redistricting push is part of a broader national effort backed by President Trump, who has urged GOP-led states to redraw their maps before the fall midterm elections. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana and Alabama are also moving to eliminate majority-Black, Democratic-held districts following the Supreme Court's decision.
Analysts tracking the redistricting war say that before last week's ruling, Republicans held a narrow edge in mid-decade map changes, perhaps a few seats over Democratic counter-efforts. That lead could now grow to six or seven seats, depending on whether a pro-Democratic redistricting measure passed by Virginia voters survives a state court challenge.
Tennessee's primary is scheduled for Aug. 6, meaning candidates and voters will be operating under the new map within months. Cohen's promised lawsuit could alter that timeline, though legal challenges of this kind rarely move quickly enough to affect an approaching election.
