Tennessee redistricting plan splits Memphis neighbors and reshapes midterms as other states follow
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — For 21 years, Steve Fowler and Sam Wilson performed together in a band on Memphis’ famous Beale Street. And for the last ten years these men were neighbors on a quiet, leafy street.
But as of Thursday, they will no longer cast the same vote despite living across the street from each other.
That’s because Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature Redraws Memphis’ congressional districtHe has long enjoyed a seat in the Democratic-leaning U.S. House of Representatives. Now, the city Divided into three Republican-leaning districtsThe majority-Black population was divided into and affiliated with mostly white, rural, and conservative communities along lines branching off from Fowler and Wilson’s East Memphis neighborhood.
A line running down the middle of the street puts Fowler in the 8th Congressional District, which stretches hundreds of miles through a dozen counties into central Tennessee. Wilson is zoned for the 9th District, which stretches across much of the state’s southern border before curving to include the largely white and affluent Nashville suburbs.
“I think it’s terrible,” said Fowler, who is white. “Not only will this be bad for Black people in Memphis, but poor white people in these new districts will not be served. How are any of these congressmen going to serve these different districts?”
Part of national redistricting contest
Re-draw triggered Decision of the conservative majority of the US Supreme Court it can Death knell for representation in Congress Majority-Black Southern communities like Memphis.
A landmark ruling for 60 years Voting Rights Act It demanded that mapmakers prove that they did not discriminate against racial minorities when drawing territories; This has often led to political boundaries that allow some minority communities to vote for their preferred representative rather than have their votes diluted by the white majority around them.
The rule’s biggest impact was seen in Southern states where neighboring Black and white communities were highly polarized in partisan politics.
on April 29 The trial court seriously weakened this requirementruled that the courts’ handling of the case improperly incorporated racial considerations into redistricting in a way that violated the U.S. Constitution. Republicans in the South jumped at the chance to redraw their maps before the November election to eliminate as many Democratic-dominated, majority-minority congressional seats as possible.
The Tennessee legislature became the first in a GOP-controlled state to finalize a new map. But this is one several Southern states Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina — among them — have engaged in a broader partisan redistricting contest that is sweeping the country.
Republicans have long complained that the Voting Rights Act prevents Democrats in states they control from doing to Democratic-majority Black districts what they did to conservative-leaning, white, rural districts. Distribute voters for partisan gain. That’s what Tennessee Republicans did to the state’s other major Democratic reservoir in Nashville in their first congressional maps of 2021; Here they didn’t have to tread cautiously because the city was majority white.
“Tennessee is a conservative state, and our congressional delegation should reflect that,” said Republican state Sen. John Stevens, who spearheaded the bill for a new map that would make all nine congressional districts entirely Republican.
A ‘central place’ in the quest for racial justice
Wilson, a black Memphis musician, was less troubled by his neighborhood being divided for partisan purposes. He saw the move as another lawsuit facing the city. influx of federal agents President Donald Trump sent to fight crime and Amid narratives about Memphis’ safety from neighboring suburbs and Republican state lawmakers.
“This is a vibrant community. We’re going to provide for our families,” Wilson said. “Memphis’ legacy is our music and civil rights history,” he said, adding that the two are intertwined. “Tough times mean you try to find your gift. That’s what we do here; music is a way of life in Memphis.”
The Memphis district predates the Voting Rights Act. For at least a century, long before Congress took action to protect minority voting rights, Tennessee believed it made sense for its metropolis on the Mississippi River to have its own U.S. House district. But since this law was passed in 1965, anyone who tries to divide the district for partisan interests can be sued and maps thrown out. Now, legal experts say that’s not much of a risk.
However, Democrats and civil rights groups are suing to block the map. The symbolism is particularly stark because the city is home to it. National Civil Rights Museumbuilt around the motel Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated When the legislature adopted the new maps, Democrats and protesters chanted “Hands off Memphis!” and waved signs accusing Republicans of bringing back Jim Crow.
“Memphis is not just any city; it is central to the national story of our quest for racial justice in this country and how, over time, we have increasingly achieved civil, voting and economic rights for all Americans,” said former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “Black citizens protested, marched, and died there for the right to vote.”
Contentious relations with the rest of Tennessee
Memphis has faced dual storylines in recent years. Billions of dollars of private investment Federal dollars have flooded the region in recent years, but many local businesses still express concerns that the regional economy is declining.
Residents who spoke to The Associated Press expressed concerns about safety and public services but were angered by stereotypes about widespread crime. The twin stories are often featured in the river city, where pothole-filled streets range from empty storefronts to neighborhoods full of fancy mansions and lush college campuses just a few blocks away.
The city has long had a contentious relationship with the rest of the state, which voted for Trump by a roughly 2-1 margin in 2024.
The conservative legislature in Nashville has repeatedly clashed with Memphis, accusing its leaders of widespread mismanagement. The legislature passed a law that blocked several efforts to overhaul police in Memphis. Tire Nichols’ deathAn unarmed Black man is in the hands of city officials in 2023. He took another precaution Memphis airport takes control of board and those of other cities in the state, and gave the state attorney general, also a Republican, the authority to remove Memphis’ elected district attorney.
“The state legislature is trying to take over this,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a white Democrat who continued to represent the city in Congress until new lines came into effect after the midterm elections. “And that’s ridiculous. In part, that’s because the majority was Black.”
Expert says Black Tennesseans are being denied fair representation
Thomas Goodman, a professor of politics and law at Rhodes College in Memphis, notes that new congressional districts could lead to more friction from lawmakers over who gets attention and funding. Memphis residents will soon share districts with Republican towns with radically different economies, geographies, and demographics. Whoever holds these congressional seats will have an incentive to pay attention to these voters, not the population of Memphis.
“This will not only deprive Black Tennesseans of appropriate representation,” Goodman said. “These changes also split the city of Memphis as an entity into multiple districts, thereby eliminating a dedicated official in government who knows the people, understands their concerns, and can speak on their behalf and serve their interests and desires.”
Chris Wiley’s house sits on a quiet street in Midtown Memphis, which before this week was lined with duplexes, tidy lawns and sports fields. Now his district is split at the intersection of three congressional districts. That’s not surprising, he said, because in Tennessee “dollars matter” rather than residents.
“Memphis is majority black, so what’s the point of even voting in Tennessee if you’re going to bother with that?” said Wiley, a 29-year-old black stadium employee. “Whatever the congressional numbers are, whatever they are, we don’t think the scale is already high.”
____
Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and AP video reporter Sophie Bates contributed to this report.
