Anger mounts after Tennessee Republicans redraw maps – US politics live | US news
Anger grows after Tennessee Republicans redraw maps to erase last majority-black Democratic district
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. As GOP lawmakers scramble to boost their fortunes ahead of the November midterm elections, Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s Democratic, black-majority congressional district.
The new map divides Shelby County, home of predominantly black Memphis, which played a critical role in the civil rights movement, into three separate Republican-leaning districts.
The Memphis district, where the black majority has been eliminated, has long been represented by the state’s only Democratic congressional representative, Rep. Steve Cohen. All nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts now lean Republican.
Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton claimed that the new districts were determined based on population and politics, not racial data.
Demonstrators protest at the Tennessee State Capitol on May 7, 2026. Photo: Seth Herald/Reuters
But Democrats rejected these claims and argued that Memphis’ division effectively deprived the Black community of representation in Congress.
“These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of Donald J. Trump, the most powerful white supremacist in the United States,” said State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Black Democrat from Memphis who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrats say the redistricting effort, which has sparked violent protests, is a cynical attack on hard-fought gains in the civil rights movement for equal representation in a state shaped by slavery and segregation.
The redrawing comes as Republican-led southern states are scrambling to pass new maps following last week’s events. the groundbreaking Callais v Landry decision, the supreme court decision that invalidated parts of the Voting Rights Act that prevented state governments from drawing congressional districts in a way that left Black voters at a political disadvantage.
Republicans in Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina have also taken steps toward redistricting. Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee will reportedly sign the map into law soon.
important events
Alabama, meanwhile, asked federal judges to strike down an order requiring the state to have a second district with a majority or close to Black voters. This district led to the election of Black Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures in 2024.
Republicans instead want to enact a map that could allow them to reclaim the Figures district, which lawmakers drew in 2023 and was rejected by a federal court.
Black citizens now make up about 48% of the county’s voting-age population, according to the Associated Press.
This will drop to around 39% by the 2023 map. Republicans are hoping federal courts will look at the case differently following the Supreme Court’s Louisiana decision, which found that the Louisiana district represented by Democrat Cleo Fields was too heavily racialized (more on that decision in a later post).
Courtesy of my colleague Sam Levine, here are some details about the shattering impact last week’s U.S. supreme court decision will have on the voting power of racial minorities:
US supreme court reigned Effectively, he announced in a landmark decision that Louisiana would have to redraw its congressional map. Eviscerates a large section of the Voting Rights Act.
In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, the court struck down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the last strong provision of the 1965 civil rights act preventing racial discrimination in voting. Part 2 has been around for a long time ensuring that minority voters are treated fairly in redistribution.
“Allowing race to play any role in government decision-making would constitute a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every contextJustice Samuel Alito, a conservative, wrote for the majority opinion: “Thus, compliance with Section 2 cannot justify the state’s use of race-based redistricting here. The state’s attempt to satisfy the middle district’s decision, although understandable, was an act of unconstitutional racism.”
The court’s decision marks a major change in US civil rights law. and allows lawmakers to draw regional plans Weakening the influence of black and other minority voters.
Asked by reporters Wednesday whether states should redraw their congressional maps in response to the decision, Donald Trump said, “I will.” In a dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court had now “achieved something”:Overthrow of the Voting Rights Act“. You can read more here:
A series of protests took place in the Tennessee state capital against the legislature’s move to redraw the state’s congressional map, which divided the state’s majority-black and only Democratic district. Here is a selection of images sent to us via news channels:
Anger grows after Tennessee Republicans redraw maps to erase last majority-black Democratic district
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. As GOP lawmakers scramble to boost their fortunes ahead of the November midterm elections, Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s Democratic, black-majority congressional district.
The new map divides Shelby County, home of predominantly black Memphis, which played a critical role in the civil rights movement, into three separate Republican-leaning districts.
The Memphis district, where the black majority has been eliminated, has long been represented by the state’s only Democratic congressional representative, Rep. Steve Cohen. All nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts now lean Republican.
Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton claimed that the new districts were determined based on population and politics, not racial data.
Demonstrators protest at the Tennessee State Capitol on May 7, 2026. Photo: Seth Herald/Reuters
But Democrats rejected these claims and argued that Memphis’ division effectively deprived the Black community of representation in Congress.
“These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of Donald J. Trump, the most powerful white supremacist in the United States,” said State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Black Democrat from Memphis who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrats say the redistricting effort, which has sparked violent protests, is a cynical attack on hard-fought gains in the civil rights movement for equal representation in a state shaped by slavery and segregation.
The redrawing comes as Republican-led southern states are scrambling to pass new maps following last week’s events. the groundbreaking Callais v Landry decision, the supreme court decision that invalidated parts of the Voting Rights Act that prevented state governments from drawing congressional districts in a way that left Black voters at a political disadvantage.
Republicans in Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina have also taken steps toward redistricting. Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee will reportedly sign the map into law soon.
