Tennessee Republicans Carve Up Memphis to Eliminate Last Democratic House Seat
The new congressional map splits the majority-Black city into three districts, targeting Representative Steve Cohen as redistricting wars continue nationwide after Supreme Court ruling.
The Tennessee General Assembly gave final approval Thursday to a controversial new congressional map that deliberately splits Memphis into three separate districts, scattering the city's Black voters to eliminate the state's last Democratic House seat. The redistricting plan represents the first map crafted since a Supreme Court ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult for states to create majority-minority districts without facing legal challenges for racial gerrymandering. Tennessee's aggressive move opens a new front in the bitter, coast-to-coast redistricting battles ahead of November's midterm elections.
The new boundaries directly target Representative Steve Cohen, Tennessee's last remaining House Democrat, by dismantling his Memphis-based district and dispersing its voters across neighboring Republican-leaning areas. The map also aims to shore up the seat of Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican facing a well-funded Democratic challenger, by shifting boundaries around liberal Nashville to reduce Democratic voting strength. Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, is expected to sign the redistricting legislation into law, cementing the new electoral map.
The final vote in the state House erupted into chaotic scenes as Democrats and demonstrators attempted to disrupt the proceedings with loud noisemakers, shouting, and alarms that drowned out the official tally. Similar protests broke out in the State Senate, where demonstrators yelled "hands off Memphis" as Republicans pushed through the measure largely along party lines. Two Memphis-area Republicans in the House broke with their party to join Democrats in opposing the redistricting plan, though their votes were insufficient to block passage.
Tennessee's primaries are scheduled for August 6, giving candidates and voters limited time to adjust to the dramatically redrawn districts. Legal challenges to the new map are widely expected, though the recent Supreme Court ruling has made such lawsuits more difficult to win. Civil rights groups and Democratic leaders argue that the redistricting plan deliberately dilutes Black voting power in violation of remaining federal protections, while Republicans maintain they are simply drawing competitive districts.
The Tennessee redistricting reflects broader national trends as Republican-controlled state legislatures across the South move aggressively to redraw congressional maps following the weakened Voting Rights Act protections. This redistricting cycle has become particularly contentious as both parties seek to maximize their advantages in an evenly divided political landscape. The Memphis map exemplifies how redistricting can be used as a powerful tool to reshape political representation, potentially eliminating competitive districts and minority representation through careful manipulation of district boundaries.
