NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Story courtesy of WSMV) – As Tennessee lawmakers returned to the State Capitol for a special session Tuesday, they were met with hundreds of protesters there to oppose efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps.
Gov. Bill Lee called the special session after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last week stripped out a key provision of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, which allowed, and sometimes required, states to use race-based data to draw their congressional maps with the goal of protecting representation for minority voters.
Following the decision, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who is also running for Tennessee governor, urged the state legislature to redistrict in a post on X, writing that passing new maps is “essential to cement President Trump’s agenda and the Golden Age of America.”
But protesters and Democrats in the state legislature argued Republicans’ plan would eliminate the state’s only remaining Democratic congressional district in Memphis and disenfranchise Black voters there.
“People spent days in jail cells and endured nights of bomb threats,” Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) said Tuesday, addressing Republican leadership. “They endured the smack of billy clubs and the blast of firehoses to get the Voting Rights Act passed, and you’re saying, ‘No, I don’t care about that.’”
Tennessee last redrew its congressional boundaries in 2022 following the 2020 census.
The current maps eliminated one of the state’s two reliably blue districts in Nashville by splitting Davidson County into three separate congressional districts, all of which have elected Republicans since 2022.
Republicans have not yet presented their proposed maps for the latest redistricting push, but Blackburn did share a proposal of her own on X.
Under her maps, the congressional district around Memphis would be split the same way Nashville was in 2022, even having some Memphis voters sharing a congressperson with voters in parts of Williamson County.
Republicans are expected to reveal their proposed maps on Wednesday.
