had filed a lawsuit<\/a> challenging the map.<\/p>\nLeaders of the state legislature, where Republicans hold a supermajority, said they redrew the map based on partisan politics, not race, to comply with the Supreme Court decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was absolutely drafted on politics,\u201d said State Representative Jason Zachary, a Knoxville Republican. The goal, he said, was to have an entirely Republican delegation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re taking advantage of that as the supermajority in this body,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Democrats, noting that about two-thirds of Memphis voters are Black, said it was a blatant attack on hard-won gains for fair representation in a state shaped by slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps the legislature should explain why Memphis should continue to be part of the state of Tennessee,\u201d said State Representative Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat. He suggested that the city should break away from the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re constantly beating on us,\u201d he said. \u201cAllow us out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some voting rights experts said the map would be an early test of what the high court now considers a racial gerrymander under what is left of the Voting Rights Act, as well as how voters would challenge new district lines. David Becker, the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the map likely \u201cwould never have withstood scrutiny under the Voting Rights Act under the last several decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, the Supreme Court almost seems to invite it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Triggered last summer by President Trump\u2019s demand that Texas embark on a rare mid-decade redistricting, half a dozen states across the country had already created new maps in a tit-for-tat redistricting war. Republicans are poised to take the lead in that race, although their chances of maintaining control of the House next year remain precarious.<\/p>\n
Louisiana, whose congressional map was at the center of the Supreme Court case, is expected to draft new district lines that undercut at least one majority-Black district. Other Southern states, like Georgia and Mississippi, have signaled they will make similar moves after the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n
The votes on Thursday capped off a raucous, emotional three days at the state capitol in Nashville, after Mr. Lee summoned lawmakers for a special session. Mr. Trump said he spoke with Mr. Lee about a new map, and the redistricting effort was closely watched in Washington and across Tennessee.<\/p>\n
State highway patrol officers lined the hallways, repeatedly cordoning off protesters or removing them from committee hearings. Demonstrators, many carrying signs that referenced segregation-era laws, screamed and chanted at Republican lawmakers who walked past them. (At least one Republican on Thursday walked through a crowd of demonstrators with a Trump flag draped over his shoulders like a cape.)<\/p>\n
Black lawmakers delivered emotional speeches about family members, friends and colleagues who endured segregation or struggled with barriers to voting in the 1960s. State Senator Charlane Oliver of Nashville, a Democrat, stood on her desk right before the vote, holding a banner reading \u201cNo Jim Crow 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy race is who I am and it informs my politics,\u201d said Danyelle Norment, 30, who woke up early to drive in from Memphis. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that\u2019s separate or can be left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cit\u2019s really, really important to have folks who can understand our lived experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
To take up the new map, Republicans also pushed through a bill that repealed a ban on redistricting in the middle of a decade.<\/p>\n
Republicans repeatedly stressed that their intent was driven by partisan politics and population, not race, since the Supreme Court has made clear it does not see a role for the courts in blocking maps drawn purely for political gain.<\/p>\n
One Memphis Republican, State Representative Mark White, said in an interview he voted against the bill because \u201cI hear and I listen and today was not a day for me to vote yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I lose the respect of my Black community or the respect of the white community, then I can\u2019t make change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Democrats pointed to judicial precedents that prevented changes too close to a primary election, highlighting how Black voters had repeatedly been the driving force behind political decisions in Memphis.<\/p>\n
Drawn just three months ahead of Tennessee\u2019s primaries, the new maps scrambled political campaigns and calculations. Some candidates, when asked this week, said they would still run, even if it wasn\u2019t entirely clear what district they would pick. And the stiff political headwinds facing Republicans this year could tamp down the scope of the new Republican margins.<\/p>\n
Even so, the districts were drawn to give Republicans an overwhelming advantage, even in a tough political year.<\/p>\n
State Senator Brent Taylor, a Shelby County Republican who has been a vocal supporter of the federal task force tackling crime in Memphis, quickly announced he would run<\/a> for the new Ninth Congressional District and began rolling out Republican endorsements.<\/p>\nMr. Ogles, who will retain a small portion of his Middle Tennessee district, pledged to be an \u201cAmerica First warrior\u201d for his new constituents. His expected Democratic opponent, Mayor Chaz Molder of Columbia, Tenn., framed the new district as a sign of the momentum behind his campaign.<\/p>\n
Among the most closely watched Democratic candidates was Mr. Cohen, who faced a primary challenger in State Representative Justin Pearson, a young Black Democrat. Both men were in the State Capitol this week, arguing for the preservation of a district they had hoped to represent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will not be good for your state,\u201d Mr. Cohen told lawmakers this week, warning that they needed to be able to work with federal Democrats to secure resources for Tennessee.<\/p>\n
Mr. Pearson\u2019s brother, KeShaun Pearson, a Memphis environmental activist, was among the demonstrators forcibly escorted out of the gallery and arrested on Thursday amid protests.<\/p>\n
Justin Pearson, who was expelled from the legislature in 2023 for a gun control protest on the House floor, said, \u201cthis is what happens when you allow tyranny to govern.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed a new congressional map into law on Thursday that slices up Memphis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[82348,1452,85631,46937,9,11,10,49,51,50,58310,35417,87621,287,1069,1876,81542],"class_list":["post-224155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cohen","tag-donald-j","tag-memphis-tenn","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-redistricting-and-reapportionment","tag-state-legislatures","tag-stephen-i","tag-tennessee","tag-trump","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-voting-rights-act-1965"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}