Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed into law a new congressional map Thursday designed to give Republicans one more seat in Congress and protect President Trump’s control over the House.
State lawmakers hustled to do their part in the nationwide redistricting war on Thursday, passing the GOP-backed maps. Democratic lawmakers threw a fit following the vote earlier Thursday, waving signs and blowing airhorns before storming out of the state House chamber.
Tennessee currently has eight Republicans and one Democrat — Rep. Steve Cohen, whose district is centered in the city of Memphis — in its House delegation.
Under the new map, Tennesee’s only Democrat rep may lose his seat. APUnder the new map, Republicans would be favored to sweep all nine seats.
Cohen’s (D-Tenn.) majority-minority district seat was a product of the prior interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. But last week, the Supreme Court overturned that precedent and effectively ruled that courts must first determine that there’s a case of racial discrimination before ordering race-based redistricting.
The GOP-led state legislature then unveiled its new congressional map on Wednesday to take full advantage of the ruling, rolling out the new map to slice up parts of Memphis and Shelby County and spread them across three separate districts to give Republicans an edge.
Cohen, who has held the Memphis-based seat since 2007, has vowed to sue.
“It’s a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the black community’s and our entire city’s voice,” he fumed.
President Trump won Tennessee by 64% over Kamala Harris’s 34% in November 2024.
State troopers removing Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson (center) and his brother KeShaun Pearson from gallery after they participated in a sit-in to protest the new mamp. REUTERSThe map redrawing comes against the backdrop of a broader redistricting arms race playing out across the country.
Top Tennessee Republicans, such as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (D-Tenn.), who is vying for governor, had publicly pressed for the Volunteer State to redistrict in response to the Virginia referendum last month, which cleared the way for a Democratic map expected to give them a four-seat pickup opportunity.
The map would likely yield 9 GOP seats in Tennessee. House and Senate Republican CaucusStates such as Texas, California, Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, and more have all reevaluated their congressional district boundaries amid a rare mid-decade scramble to eke out as much of a partisan advantage as possible.
Some of those changes are subject to litigation. Other states, like Alabama, are also mulling redistricting changes.
Typically, redistricting takes place after each census, once every decade.
Tennessee’s primary races are slated to take place Aug. 6.
