Red State Charges Ahead With Plan To Erase Final Dem Seat

Tennessee Republican lawmakers released new election maps Wednesday that would wipe out the last Democratic congressional seat. 

The map release from the GOP leadership in the state House and Senate comes on the second day of a special session called by Governor Bill Lee to redraw congressional maps. The maps would split up Memphis, currently the only area represented by a Democrat in Congress, into three favorable Republican districts. 

Plans to redraw the maps followed last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down a Louisiana majority-Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander — a ruling that weakened Voting Rights Act protections and prompted President Donald Trump to call on Republican states to respond accordingly.

“The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said Wednesday, sharing an image of the proposed map. “The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics. Today, Tennessee joins other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps.”

The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind. The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics. Today, Tennessee joins other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps. @ltgovmcnally pic.twitter.com/lOeBf5tGMF

— Speaker Cameron Sexton (@CSexton25) May 6, 2026

Tennessee’s current congressional delegation features eight Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. 

In addition to splitting the heavily Democrat Memphis area into three larger Republican districts, the map divides up Democrat-leaning Davidson County, where Nashville is located, into multiple larger GOP districts. 

“Tennessee is a conservative state and our congressional delegation should reflect that,” GOP State Sen. John Stevens said on Wednesday. “This bill ensures it does.”

The proposed map is expected to advance through committee today and go to both the state House and Senate for approval on Wednesday. 

Hundreds of leftist activists from around the state converged at the state capitol building on the first day of the special session to protest the redistricting push. Protesters held signs like “Protect Black Votes” and “No Jim Crow.” 

Cohen, a white man who has represented the Memphis area for nearly two decades, called the plans to redistrict racist. 

“This is insane. The GOP’s newly proposed TN Congressional maps would have people in Shelby County all the way to Williamson County — 200+ miles apart — being ‘represented’ by the same Congressman,” Cohen said Wednesday. “It’s a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the black community’s and our entire city’s voice.”

Prominent state GOP officials immediately called for the congressional maps to be redrawn after the Supreme Court decision. 

“I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It’s essential to cement [Trump’s] agenda and the Golden Age of America,” Senator Marsha Blackburn said shortly after the decision was released. “I’ve vowed to keep Tennessee a red state, and as Governor, I’ll do everything I can to make this map a reality.”