Tennessee Republicans unveil map splitting Memphis, targeting lone Democratic district

Tennessee Republicans moved to carve Memphis into three congressional districts, a plan that would dismantle the state’s only Democratic-held House seat and likely lock in a 9-0 Republican delegation in the U.S. House.

The proposed map, unveiled Wednesday during the special session, slices through Memphis and Shelby County, with two of the new district lines stretching toward the Nashville area. It would pull Rep. Steve Cohen out of the Memphis-based district he has held since 2007, where he said he has represented a majority-Black constituency for nearly two decades.

For Memphis, the stakes reach far beyond one seat. The city and Shelby County have anchored Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, the state’s lone Democratic district and a rare point of political leverage for Black voters in a state otherwise dominated by Republicans in Congress. Memphis and Shelby County Democrats say the redraw would dilute Black voting power and shift influence away from a majority-Black city that has long depended on one federal voice in Washington.

Gov. Bill Lee called lawmakers into special session on May 1 after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Republican leaders have argued that the decision gives states more room to redraw maps on partisan lines, and the General Assembly adopted rules limiting public comment to move the process faster.

Cohen warned that the effort would dilute Black political power in Tennessee and said he has been consulting voting-rights lawyers and other experts. He also said the filing deadline for candidates for the 120th Congress has already passed, raising the prospect of ballot complications if the district lines change before the next election.

The map does more than target Memphis. It also divides Maury County, a change that could make Rep. Andy Ogles’s district more favorable to Republicans. Together, the proposed changes show how far Tennessee Republicans are willing to go as they test the legal boundaries left open after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Memphis Democrats including state Sens. Raumesh Akbari and London Lamar and state Rep. Jesse Chism denounced the plan as an attempt to weaken the city’s political voice. Across the South, Republican mapmakers are pushing similar aggressive redraws, using the new legal landscape to pursue partisan gains while communities of color face the loss of hard-won representation.