Tennessee Republicans Unveil Gerrymandered Map Splitting Memphis District Held By Steve Cohen

Tennessee Republicans unveiled a congressional map proposal Wednesday that would carve up the state’s majority-Black district based in Memphis, represented by Democrat Steve Cohen, and eliminate Tennessee’s only Democratic-controlled district.

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Axios

The proposal comes one week after a U.S.

NBC News

Supreme Court ruling limiting the use of race in redistricting, and Republicans said they expect both chambers to hold floor votes on the proposal Thursday.

The map would split Memphis across three different districts, and the Memphis metro area—home to more than 1 million people—could be divided into three districts.

State House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the Supreme Court “opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind,” and that the decision indicated Tennessee can redistrict based on partisan politics.

Democratic lawmakers and civil rights advocates protested the proposal as Republicans advanced it through state committees, with Cohen calling the plan a “blatant, corrupt power grab” that would destroy “the Black community’s and our entire city’s voice.”

WPLN News quoted Sen.

PBS

Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, saying, “There’s no way to sugarcoat eliminating a district that is 61% Black,” and said the move would “deliberately trying to silence the voices of a community.”

Republicans framed the effort as a modernization that would take racial data out of consideration, with Sen.

John Stevens, R-Huntingdon, saying the move will “modernize” Tennessee’s redistricting process by taking racial data out of consideration.

In a statement, Cameron Sexton also argued the plan would reduce the risk of future legal challenges while promoting “sound and strategic conservatism.”

The map’s political stakes are tied to whether Republicans can secure control of Tennessee’s congressional delegation, with Axios saying the GOP wants to eliminate the state’s only blue congressional district to secure a 9-0 sweep of all of the state’s U.S.

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House seats.

NBC News reported that the proposal is expected to be put in place before the midterm elections, and that Tennessee’s primaries are scheduled to take place Aug. 6.

The Hill described a special legislative session at the state Capitol in Nashville, where the state Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the new congressional map in a 9-2 vote after hearing from witnesses including Stacey Abrams and Cohen himself.

Kareem Crayton of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Washington, D.C., office warned that “No single representative would have an incentive to show attention to the issues and concerns with people who live there,” particularly since the map is designed to elect Republicans and Memphis is described as a stronghold for Democratic voters.