Demonstrators gathered outside the Tennessee state capitol building in Nashville on Tuesday to protest redistricting after lawmakers immediately recessed a special session. The protest came as Tennessee's Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday that eliminated the state's sole Democratic, Black-majority congressional district. This move occurred just a week after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act in the landmark Callais v. Landry decision.
Redistricting Details
The new maps crack Tennessee's 9th Congressional District, which covers Memphis, into three pieces. Each piece contains almost exactly one-third of the city's Black voters. As a result, all nine of Tennessee's congressional districts are now Republican-leaning. Previously, the district occupied the southwestern corner of the state. Now, three districts snake out from Memphis' dense center, with two crossing the Tennessee River to reach Nashville's suburbs, nearly 200 miles away.
During debate on Thursday, Democratic State Representative Vincent Dixie pleaded with Republicans to refrain from the redraw, asking, "If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections? 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 that had begun shouting. State Democratic Representative Justin Jones described Speaker Cameron Sexton as the "grand wizard in chief" and handed a Republican lawmaker a Confederate flag. Jones offered amendments to the bill, but the speaker ruled they had been submitted untimely. Jones called it a "Jim Crow process."
Context and Reactions
The redistricting comes eight days after the Supreme Court's Callais v. Landry decision invalidated portions of the Voting Rights Act that had restrained states from drawing districts that disadvantaged Black voters. Despite demands from Donald Trump for conservative states to conduct mid-decade redistricting, Tennessee had refrained until after the court's ruling. Sexton said the redraw would "ensure the state's representation in Washington reflects its conservative values."
In the 2024 presidential election, Trump defeated Kamala Harris in Tennessee by 64% to 34%. However, one-third of Tennessee voters cast ballots for Democratic congressional representatives in 2024, yet Republicans hold eight of nine seats.
Testifying before a committee hearing on Wednesday, voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams said the state's general assembly was asked "to dismantle the protections that helped bury the abomination of Jim Crow." She added, "Democracy is an action – one that says I will share my power with those I disagree with because it is the only way to guarantee our common future. Backsliding into authoritarianism, where one party and one race holds dominion is unworthy of the Volunteer state."
State Representative Justin Pearson, a Memphis Democrat running to replace Congressman Steve Cohen, said little regard was given to Democratic opposition. Pearson was one of three Democrats expelled from the state legislature in 2023 for a floor protest over gun legislation. He described the redistricting as the most significant action lawmakers will take in a generation, conducted with perfunctory debate. After only half an hour, the committee cleared out on Wednesday to reconvene without the public present to vote.
"Speakers were given three minutes to talk. There was question and answer, and then they were told that would be it," Pearson said. "We had to force them to agree to a time limit so we could speak. It's mobcratic rule."
State Senator London Lamar of Memphis called the vote an insult. She noted that during the past legislative session, Republicans took over Memphis' school board and airport authority. "And now you don't like the way Memphis votes. You're going to take that away from us too. You cannot claim to respect democracy while changing the rules after candidates have already qualified to run. You are creating chaos on purpose."
Lamar and other Democrats questioned Republicans about the intent regarding race and partisanship. Lamar pointed out that while Black voters were split nearly evenly among three districts, 72% of white Democrats ended up in the newly drawn 8th District. "Why does this map treat Black Democrats of Memphis so differently than white Democrats of Memphis?" she asked. Senator Johnson replied, "This proposed map maximizes the ability of Republicans to win nine seats in the upcoming midterm elections."
