Tennessee Republicans redraw maps to erase last Democratic, Black-majority district

"The move cracks Tennessee's ninth congressional district, which covers Memphis, into three pieces, each of which contains almost exactly a third of the city's Black voters. The new maps mean that all nine of Tennessee's congressional districts are Republican-leaning. The district had closely occupied the south-west corner of the state. Now three districts snake out from Memphis' dense center, with two crossing the Tennessee River to reach Nashville's suburbs 200 miles away."

"If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections? asked Vincent Dixie, a state representative from Nashville, during debate on Thursday, pleading for Republicans to refrain. Where is your humanity in this? As Democratic lawmakers spoke, the house speaker directed state troopers to remove a section of the audience in the gallery, which had begun shouting."

"The redistricting comes eight days after the supreme court's landmark Callais v Landry decision, which invalidated swaths of the Voting Rights Act which had restrained state governments from drawing congressional districts that left Black voters at a political disadvantage. Despite demands from Donald Trump for conservative states to conduct mid-decade redistricting, Tennessee had refrained from taking action before the court's ruling."

Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature passed redistricting maps that eliminated the state's sole Democratic, Black-majority ninth congressional district by fragmenting Memphis into three separate districts, each containing approximately one-third of the city's Black voters. The new configuration extends two districts across the Tennessee River to Nashville's suburbs, 200 miles away. All nine of Tennessee's congressional districts now lean Republican. This redistricting occurred one week after the Supreme Court's Callais v Landry decision invalidated key Voting Rights Act provisions that previously prevented states from drawing districts disadvantaging Black voters. Democratic lawmakers protested the maps, with state representatives questioning the rationale and describing the process as reminiscent of Jim Crow-era tactics. House Speaker Cameron Sexton defended the redistricting as reflecting the state's conservative representation.

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