Tennessee Republicans approve new map splitting Memphis, Nashville districts

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee redrew the state’s congressional map on Thursday, and Gov. Bill Lee signed it the same day, putting Memphis’s lone majority-Black district directly in the crosshairs and sharpening a voting-rights fight with national stakes.

Before approving the map, the Tennessee General Assembly repealed the state’s ban on mid-decade redistricting. The new lines split Memphis and Shelby County into three congressional districts, diluting the base of Rep. Steve Cohen, the Memphis Democrat who has represented the 9th Congressional District since 2007. Cohen said he will sue over the plan, which could help Republicans capture all nine of Tennessee’s U.S. House seats.

The map is more than a partisan maneuver. The 9th District has long been Tennessee’s only majority-Black congressional district, and the redraw came soon after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Republicans cited that ruling as justification for moving ahead, while state Sen. John Stevens said the districts were drawn to elect more Republicans. Tennessee’s 2024 presidential results, which gave Donald Trump 64.2% to Kamala Harris’s 34.5%, already showed how deep the state’s Republican lean runs.

The new plan also further divides the Nashville metropolitan area, long a Democratic stronghold, extending the partisan pressure beyond Memphis and into another urban center where Democratic votes have been concentrated. By tying together voters from different regions and political cultures, the map is designed to strengthen Republican control while weakening the ability of Black and Democratic communities to convert population into representation.

The vote set off angry scenes at the Capitol. Protesters filled the Tennessee State Capitol, chanting during debate, and Democratic lawmakers walked out of the House session after the measure passed. State Rep. Gloria Johnson called it a “white-power rally and a white-power grab,” while state Sen. London Lamar warned Republicans, “You have awakened a sleeping giant today.”

Legal challenges moved just as quickly. The NAACP Tennessee State Conference filed suit on May 7 to block the map, calling it an attempt to eliminate the state’s only majority-Black congressional district. NAACP general counsel Kristen Clarke said, “A democracy without Black representation is not a democracy.” The Congressional Black Caucus also condemned the move as theft of fair representation and a deliberate stripping of political power from Black communities.

With Cohen promising his own challenge and civil-rights groups already in court, the battle now shifts to whether Tennessee can lock in a map that weakens Memphis representation, fragments Nashville, and hands Republicans a clean sweep that could last for years.