Tennessee Republicans Split Memphis 9th District, Diluting Black Voting Power After Supreme Court Ruling

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee moved swiftly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s last week decision in Louisiana v. Callais to eliminate the state’s Memphis-based 9th Congressional District, splitting much of Memphis among three separate districts and diluting the votes of Black residents.

“Voting rights organizations across the South Friday pledged to oppose the GOP’s efforts to rig congressional maps in its favor after the Supreme Court gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) last week”

Democracy Docket

The Atlantic reported that Tennessee enacted the new map “with a nod from the Supreme Court” in barely a week, and that the move “all but guarante[es] Republicans an additional House seat.”

Democracy Docket

NBC News said Gov. Bill Lee signed the redrawn lines into law and that the map carves up a Memphis-based seat held by longtime Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., into three districts.

PBS, citing Associated Press, said the new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state’s congressional seats in the November midterm elections, while Politico described the plan as fracturing Black-majority Memphis between three districts.

Democracy Docket reported that Matia Powell, the executive director of CivilTN, said over 1.4 million voters across the state are now in new congressional districts under the new map.

Voting-rights advocates vowed to fight the GOP’s efforts, with Democracy Docket quoting Anneshia Hardy saying, “This is coordinated escalation.”

The Guardian framed the speed of the response as activists watched Louisiana’s governor order the ongoing congressional election set aside while lawmakers redraw maps to eliminate a Democratic-majority seat covering Baton Rouge.

NBC News

Stacey Abrams told Tennessee lawmakers at a redistricting committee hearing that “Rigged maps that decide elections before a single vote is cast and politicians who rig elections so it’s impossible for them to lose: this is not democracy. This is cowardice,” according to The Guardian.

NBC News reported that Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson said, “This is not a special session. This is a white-power rally and a white-power grab,” as protesters chanted and Democratic members walked out.

Tennessee Lookout described Sen. Raumesh Akbari’s floor speech urging colleagues to vote against the map, including her question about Edmund Pettus Bridge and the right of Black people in Memphis to be politically represented.

The NAACP filed an emergency lawsuit against Republicans’ efforts in Tennessee, and Tennessee Lookout said the measure faced an immediate legal challenge from the NAACP Tennessee State Conference filed in Davidson County Chancery Court late Thursday.

“Associated PressAssociated Press Leave your feedback The new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state's congressional seats in the November midterm elections”

PBS

PBS reported that Tennessee was the first state to adopt new districts since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week significantly weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities, while Politico said the map aims to secure an all-GOP federal delegation by dismantling the state’s majority-Black district.

The Atlantic said the collective moves across the South could increase the GOP’s chances of retaining its narrow House majority in this fall’s midterm elections, and it also noted that Republicans received another judicial boost when Virginia’s highest court struck down a statewide referendum designed by Democrats to give them as many as four additional House seats.

In Louisiana, Democracy Docket said Gov. Jeff Landry suspended the state’s ongoing congressional races even though at least 42,000 voters likely already cast ballots, while The Atlantic reported that Landry halted the elections for U.S. House races after more than 42,000 voters had already cast ballots in the state’s May 16 primaries.

NBC News added that Tennessee becomes the ninth state to enact a new congressional map ahead of the midterms, and it said other states with filing deadlines and primary dates already passed are looking at the 2028 election cycle for potential new maps.