The Tennessee General Assembly unveiled a new congressional map Wednesday that will likely eliminate the state’s sole Democrat in the U.S. House ahead of November’s general election.
The legislature is meeting this week in a special session to vote on the new congressional lines following the April 29 Supreme Court decision allowing states more authority to ditch racially gerrymandered districts.
“The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be colorblind. The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics. Today, Tennessee joins other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps,” said Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
The map is all but guaranteed to pass the GOP-led House and Senate later this week. The new lines redraw the racially gerrymandered 9th District encompassing Memphis, which is now represented by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat.
The move was met with vocal protests in the state capital. Protesters hoisted signs and chanted “No new maps!” in a committee room Wednesday morning where lawmakers convened to consider a measure eliminating a prohibition on mid-decade changes to congressional districts.
Tennessee is among a growing list of states scrambling to redraw congressional lines in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. On Wednesday, South Carolina legislators began the redistricting process. The redrawn map would likely eliminate the only seat represented by a Democrat, Rep. James E. Clyburn, the former House majority whip.
The Alabama legislature met this week in a special session to consider a congressional map that would revert to 2023 lines drawn by GOP lawmakers. That map would reshape a district represented by Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Republicans also want to eliminate another Democrat-leaning district represented by Rep. Terri Sewell, who is also Black.
The state’s Republican-led House on Wednesday passed a bill allowing special congressional primary elections if the Supreme Court allows the state to use the map drawn in 2023 that redraws the district now represented by Mr. Figures.
The congressional primary is slated for May 19 but some early votes have already been cast.
Democrats in Alabama protested the plans to eliminate the racially gerrymandered districts.
“This bill will have the effect of purposefully removing the power of the Black vote by denying Black voters the ability to elect a candidate of their choice,” said state Rep. Adline Clarke, a Democrat who represents Mobile County, on Wednesday during legislative debate. “How will that increase civic engagement and voter participation? We all know that it will not and in fact, I predict it will further decrease voter turnout. That’s not how our democracy is supposed to work.”
The Supreme Court decision struck down a racially gerrymandered congressional district in Louisiana by ruling the Voting Rights Act can’t be used to force states to add more minority districts to their maps unless there is clear evidence of racial discrimination.
Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, responded to the ruling by suspending the ongoing congressional primary to give the GOP-led legislature time to redraw one or both of the state’s districts that were created to ensure minority representation in Congress.
Louisiana’s legislature meets on Friday to consider a new map that eliminates at least one of the state’s two racially gerrymandered district.
Democrats are also scrambling to try to redraw congressional district lines in their favor.
The opportunities for Democrats are slimmer, however, thanks to years of partisan gerrymandering that has already given them skewed advantages in several states.
In New England, for example, all GOP-leaning congressional districts have been eliminated by redistricting.
New York Democrats, who have over the years squeezed out GOP representation by shifting congressional district lines, are weighing steps this week to create a map even further gerrymandered in their favor, although state laws may push those changes to 2028.
Mr. Cohen, who stands to lose his job in November if a new map is approved, led protests in Memphis this week and pledged to fight the changes in Tennessee.
He said the newly proposed boundaries would create a district 200 miles long represented by the same member of Congress.
“It’s a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the Black community’s and our entire city’s voice,” Mr. Cohen said.
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