Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature approved a new congressional map on Thursday that splits majority-Black Shelby County into three districts. The move aims to remove the state’s only Democratic-held U.S. House seat. Governor Bill Lee signed the map into law shortly after passage.
The redistricting occurred during a special session called by Lee following the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29 ruling that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Currently Tennessee has eight Republican representatives and one Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. The new lines fracture the majority-Black 9th District and extend some Memphis voters into a district stretching roughly 200 miles to Nashville suburbs.
