Republicans argue their redistricting in Tennessee and elsewhere is about party politics, not race. They point out that Democrats regularly redraw districts in states they control to give their party easier election wins.<\/p>\n
Democrats have done the same in California, for example, said Steve Hickey, chair of the Republican Party in Williamson County, a popular suburban area south of Nashville. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of a bigger game being played nationally, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to say that this was done to gut\u201d the Voting Rights Act, he said.<\/p>\n
Redistricting in the United States is generally controlled by state legislatures, which adjust voter maps after the once-a-decade census. Both parties have historically used the process to help their candidates win future elections. In 2025, at the urging of President Donald Trump, Texas launched an unusual mid-decade redistricting drive as part of a broader Republican push to gain congressional seats in half a dozen states, including Tennessee. Democrats responded with their own partisan redistricting in California and attempts that faltered in other states.<\/p>\n
Civil rights activists say Tennessee\u2019s congressional districts, all of which currently favor Republicans, are now a testing ground for dismantling voting rights protections across the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis lack of competition spills over and has racial implications,\u201d said John Geer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University who conducts polling in Tennessee.<\/p>\n
Reuters sought to quantify the impact of redistricting on the voters of Tennessee, examining public funding, demographics and socioeconomic factors to show why it\u2019s important to residents when a city is split up like this.<\/p>\n
MemphisDistrict 9Suburbs of NashvilleDistrict 5District 8District 9<\/p>\n
Population by race, one dot per person<\/p>\n
Black residents White residents Other races and ethnicities <\/p>\n
Memphis has the largest Black population in Tennessee. The city of some 630,000 people is 63% Black.<\/p>\n
Memphis accounted for 78% of the former District 9\u2019s population, making it the only majority-Black district in the state.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the Tennessee legislature drew new district lines, splitting Memphis and its Black communities into three separate districts.<\/p>\n
The pieces of the city are now grouped with rural and suburban Tennesseans in districts that reach halfway across the state.<\/p>\n
Note: \u201cWhite\u201d and \u201cBlack\u201d are non-Hispanic. \u201cOther races and ethnicities\u201d combines Hispanic or Latino residents of any race with the non-Hispanic categories Asian alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, Some Other Race alone, and Two or More Races.<\/p>\n
Sources: US Census Bureau (2020 census redistricting data; TIGER\/Line boundaries); Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury (2026 districts); All About Redistricting, Loyola Law School (2022 districts); State of Tennessee and the City of Memphis Engineering Division (city limits); Tennessee Department of Transportation (roads)<\/p>\n
Reuters spoke to more than 35 redistricting scholars, political analysts, civic leaders, political candidates and voters about the consequences of redistricting for the most vulnerable communities in Tennessee\u2019s two biggest cities. Cities faced the biggest impact because rural areas were already represented by a Republican and continue to be so after the redistricting, albeit in districts with different demographics. <\/p>\n
Before redistricting, both Nashville and Memphis were overwhelmingly Democratic districts in an otherwise Republican state. In 2024, District 9, including most of Memphis, went 71% for Democrat Steve Cohen. In 2020, Jim Cooper, a Democrat, ran unopposed in Nashville\u2019s District 5, winning more than 99% of votes cast. In 2022, the new District 5 flipped, with the Republican candidate winning 57%.<\/p>\n
Tennessee\u2019s new maps have combined city, suburban and rural populations that have widely varying needs and political preferences. The residents of Nashville and Memphis, for instance, are far more likely to struggle with poverty, housing, public safety and related issues.<\/p>\n
Residents there could now struggle to elect Congress members who prioritize policies to address these issues, according to Odessa Kelly, executive director of Stand Up Nashville, a nonprofit community organization that advocates for racial and economic equality.<\/p>\n
She said Black voters in Nashville no longer felt they had someone to stand up for them in Congress, from federal funding going to the city to critical votes on bills that directly affect city residents. <\/p>\n
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Social Vulnerability Index to gauge how well a community can withstand and recover from an emergency, and to identify which communities may need the most support. Shelby County, home to Memphis, ranks among the most vulnerable of Tennessee\u2019s 95 counties on various indicators such as housing cost burden and lack of access to a vehicle.<\/p>\n
Memphis, Nashville residents rank higher in social vulnerability <\/p>\n
A US government index compares Tennessee communities on socioeconomic and demographic factors gauging their resilience to unexpected hardships.<\/p>\n
Racial or ethnic minority<\/p>\n
Davidson County<\/p>\n
(Nashville)<\/p>\n
Housing and transportation<\/p>\n
In structures of 10+ units<\/p>\n
Household characteristics<\/p>\n
Speaks English less than well<\/p>\n
No high school diploma (25+)<\/p>\n
Racial or ethnic minority<\/p>\n
Davidson County<\/p>\n
(Nashville)<\/p>\n
Housing and transportation<\/p>\n
In structures of 10+ units<\/p>\n
Household characteristics<\/p>\n
Speaks English less than well<\/p>\n
No high school diploma (25+)<\/p>\n
Racial or ethnic minority<\/p>\n
Davidson County<\/p>\n
(Nashville)<\/p>\n
Housing and transportation<\/p>\n
In structures of 10+ units<\/p>\n
Household characteristics<\/p>\n
Speaks English less than well<\/p>\n
No high school diploma (25+)<\/p>\n
Chart showing where Shelby County and Davidson County rank among Tennessee\u2019s 95 counties on 16 measures of the CDC\u2019s Social Vulnerability Index, grouped into four themes, on a scale from the 0 to the 100th percentile with the other 93 counties as faint ticks. Both rank high on most measures \u2014 Shelby at the 100th percentile for racial or ethnic minority share and housing cost burden, Davidson at the 100th for apartments in large buildings and for people who speak English less than well. Both drop to the middle or bottom on poverty, the 50th percentile for Shelby and the 23rd for Davidson, and on residents aged 65 and over.<\/p>\n
Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Social Vulnerability Index 2022<\/p>\n
In 2024, just over a third of Tennessee voters picked Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and in 2020, Democrats won two congressional seats out of the state\u2019s nine, carrying Nashville and Memphis. Now, every congressional district in Tennessee is considered \u201csafe\u201d for Republicans.<\/p>\n
Sandi Wells, a self-described \u201cvery conservative\u201d voter from Williamson County, just outside Nashville, said it was \u201ckind of odd\u201d to group Memphis in the same district with parts of Williamson County 200 miles away. But she rejected the notion that districts should be drawn to protect Black voting power. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we should have districts that are based on race,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s just ridiculous for anyone to even think that we should have that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shane Tinnin, a 52-year-old small business owner who maintains homes in both cities and has voted mostly for Democrats, understands that parties seek political power through redistricting but called the Memphis maps a particularly striking setback for Black political power.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Nashville, it seemed really more like this is a political move,\u201d he said, noting that it was not a Black-majority city. \u201cWhen you do it in Memphis, where it\u2019s an even more liberal district, but also a predominantly Black district, it just feels especially egregious to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Odessa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792450792_602_kelly.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
Odessa Kelly, executive director at Stand Up Nashville, points to topics of focus for her and her team at a meeting in July. REUTERS\/Seth Herald<\/p>\n
Volunteers for The Equity Alliance canvass through neighborhoods in Memphis to do \u201caccountability\u201d door knocks to speak with residents about elected officials following the GOP-led effort to redistrict the city. REUTERS\/Seth Herald<\/p>\n
Securing funding<\/p>\n
Reuters examined how Nashville\u2019s redistricting has impacted community project funding, under which lawmakers can seek federal money for local projects. Previously known as earmarks, community project funds returned to Congress with a more transparent process in fiscal year 2022 after a decade-long moratorium.<\/p>\n
A Reuters analysis found a dramatic shift in funding for Nashville after the city was split among three districts.<\/p>\n
Jim Cooper, a Democrat, steered most of the old 5th District\u2019s project funding to Nashville in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. In the years since, only a small share of funding has gone toward projects in the city, including fiscal year 2027 requests still pending before Congress. <\/p>\n
Funding can vary greatly between representatives. Only John Rose, who currently represents the 6th District, has requested funding among the three members whose districts included Nashville after redistricting. Matt Van Epps and Andy Ogles have not pursued community project funding for their districts at all, arguing against such spending on principle. All three did not provide a comment or did not respond to a request to comment.<\/p>\n
Total Community Project Funding for districts that include Nashville <\/p>\n
Two flow diagrams comparing Community Project Funds before and after redistricting. In the year before, when Nashville sat in a single district, District 5 received $18 million and $15.5 million of it went to Nashville, with $2.5 million going elsewhere. In the year after, with Nashville divided across three districts, Districts 5, 6 and 7 received $21 million between them but only $3 million reached Nashville, while $18 million went to areas outside the city.<\/p>\n
Note: Data show the total funding for districts that include Nashville. Before the 2022 redistricting, Nashville was contained in District 5. After, it was split between Districts 5, 6 and 7.<\/p>\n
Source: US Government Accountability Office<\/p>\n
The shift away from community funding jeopardized future funding for projects like public housing, healthcare centers, buildings for the two historically Black colleges in the city and public transportation in Nashville.<\/p>\n
For Memphis, a similar decline in earmark funding would be a big loss. Since 2022, District 9 Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat, pulled in $52.6 million for projects based in Memphis, according to figures published by the US Government Accountability Office and the US House Committee on Appropriations. That\u2019s 83% of all the community project funding for District 9 in that period.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792450794_364_capitol-top.webp\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792450796_215_capitol-bottom.webp\")
<\/p>\n
District 7 State capitol<\/p>\n
District 6 State House of Representatives<\/p>\n
The Tennessee State Capitol building and Legislative Plaza, which is undergoing construction. REUTERS\/Seth Herald<\/p>\n
Another important role for a member of Congress is to act as a middleman between people in their district and the government, helping negotiate the bureaucracy of Washington.<\/p>\n
When Cooper represented Nashville, he fielded calls about immigration paperwork, passports, Medicare, Social Security checks and more, said Tennessee State Senator Charlane Oliver, who worked as a community liaison and communications staffer in Cooper\u2019s congressional office from 2017 to 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would show up to the cookout, the fish fry, the parades, the meetings and the galas,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
That kind of interaction is harder if the representative does not have a local office. When Nashville was split, only one representative, Mark Green of District 7, kept an office near the center of the city. That office was closed when Van Epps took over the seat in 2025, leaving no offices within the city limits. <\/p>\n
Constituents in Nashville have to drive 36 miles on average to visit a congressional district office, a Reuters analysis found, compared with less than 10 miles when Cooper represented Nashville, the seat of Davidson County.<\/p>\n
Average trip to Congressional district office <\/p>\n
9 miles before redistricting<\/p>\n
9 miles before redistricting<\/p>\n
9 miles before redistricting<\/p>\n
A chart of the average driving distance for Nashville residents to their closest congressional district office, shown for each of the three districts the city is now split among. A dark bar common to all three marks the 9-mile average from when Nashville sat in a single district, flagged on the scale as \u201c9 miles before redistricting.\u201d A lighter bar extends past it to each district\u2019s new average: District 5 adds 39 miles, reaching about 47; District 6 adds 17, reaching about 25; and District 7 adds 16, reaching about 24 miles.<\/p>\n
Note: Data shows the average driving distance for Nashville residents in each district to their closest district office. District 7\u2019s offices are those open under Rep. Matt Van Epps, who won the seat after Mark Green resigned in 2025. Green kept an office in downtown Nashville; which put District 7\u2019s average at 5 miles. That office no longer exists.<\/p>\n
Source: Reuters analysis of congressional district office locations<\/p>\n
Van Epps and the other two Republicans running this year in Nashville districts, Johnny Garrett and Charlie Hatcher, did not respond to Reuters requests for interviews for this story.<\/p>\n
Most city buses don\u2019t operate far enough outside the city to visit a congressional district office in Cookeville, more than an hour\u2019s drive away.<\/p>\n
Kyle Cook, who works in the public library, said Cooper\u2019s office used to be just upstairs from his own in downtown Nashville. \u201cNow, if I wanted to advocate just as a regular citizen for better busing, I would have to call this office in Cookeville and it\u2019s just not the same kind of relationship,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
Who speaks for Memphis?<\/p>\n
Cohen represented Memphis for 19 years but stood down when new maps were passed, saying \u201cthese districts were drawn to beat me.\u201d <\/p>\n