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Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature passed new congressional maps on Thursday that dismantle the state’s sole Democratic and Black-majority district, effectively ensuring all nine of Tennessee’s congressional seats will lean Republican.

The changes carve up the Ninth Congressional District — which covers Memphis and has long been represented by Democrat Steve Cohen — into three pieces. Each new district absorbs roughly one-third of the city’s Black voters, with two of the districts stretching nearly 200 miles across the state to reach suburban areas near Nashville.

The move comes just one week after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Callais v. Landry, which significantly weakened key protections of the Voting Rights Act that previously restrained states from drawing maps that dilute minority voting power.

Heated Debate and Democratic Backlash

During floor debate, Democratic lawmakers fiercely opposed the maps. State Rep. Vincent Dixie asked pointedly:

“If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections? Where is your humanity in this?”

Tensions escalated when House Speaker Cameron Sexton ordered state troopers to remove protesting members of the audience. Rep. Justin Jones referred to the Speaker as the “grand wizard in chief” and accused Republicans of following a “Jim Crow process.”

State Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat, criticized the maps as an attack on local control:

“You didn’t like our school board… You didn’t like our airport authority… And now you don’t like the way Memphis votes. You’re going to take that away from us too.”

The Real Story

This redistricting represents a bold and controversial power play by Tennessee Republicans. By cracking Memphis’s concentrated Black and Democratic voter base, the new maps maximize Republican advantages ahead of the 2026 midterms, even though roughly one-third of Tennesseans voted for Democratic congressional candidates in 2024.

While Republicans argue the maps simply reflect the state’s strong conservative values — Donald Trump won Tennessee by a 64-34 margin in 2024 — critics see it as a direct response to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling and an intentional effort to dilute minority voting strength. The timing, just days after the court weakened Voting Rights Act protections, has only intensified accusations of racial and partisan gerrymandering.

Voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams warned that such moves risk “backsliding into authoritarianism, where one party and one race holds dominion.”

Whether this redistricting survives legal challenges remains to be seen. What is clear is that Tennessee has joined other states in aggressively reshaping its political map to consolidate power following the Supreme Court’s decision.

For residents of Memphis, the message feels unmistakable: their voting strength is being deliberately diluted to protect Republican dominance.