Tennessee GOP Eyes State Redistricting After Eliminating Last Democrat in Congress
Tennessee Republicans eliminated the state’s last Democrat-held congressional seat in May — and state legislative maps may be next on the agenda.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature, having redrawn congressional district lines in May to eliminate the state’s last Democrat-held U.S. House seat, may now turn its attention to redrawing state legislative maps as well, according to reporting by the Tennessee Lookout.
Congressional Map Splits Memphis‘s 9th District
During a special legislative session in May, Republican lawmakers passed a new congressional map that divided Memphis’s majority-Black 9th Congressional District — previously represented by a Democrat — into three separate districts, each drawn to be majority-white and favorable to Republican candidates. The move leaves Tennessee’s nine-member congressional delegation with no Democratic representation.
The redistricting followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s April ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which the Tennessee Lookout described as drawing a distinction between race-based gerrymandering, which the Court found impermissible, and party-based gerrymandering, which the Court indicated is constitutionally allowed. Republican state legislators acted quickly after that ruling.
State Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat, held up a photo of the newly passed U.S. House map during the special session, highlighting the district boundaries her colleagues had approved.
Democrats Represent More Than a Third of Voters Statewide
Despite Democrats accounting for more than one-third of Tennessee’s voters — based on results from the last two presidential elections — the party held only one of the state’s nine congressional seats before the May redistricting, representing roughly 11% of the state’s House delegation. Under the new map, that figure drops to zero.
The Tennessee Lookout reported that Republican legislators have signaled the next legislative session could include redistricting of state House and Senate seats, a move that would extend the same political geography strategy to the state level.
Legal Challenges Already in the Pipeline
The congressional redistricting is expected to face legal scrutiny. The Tennessee Lookout noted separately that five laws passed by Tennessee lawmakers in 2026 already face legal challenges, a pattern the outlet described as a recurring feature of the Republican-led legislature’s output.
Critics of the congressional map have characterized it as a racial gerrymander given that it dismantled a majority-Black district, a charge that carries constitutional weight even after Callais. Republicans have argued the map is a permissible partisan exercise under the Supreme Court’s guidance.
The Tennessee Lookout’s reporting did not include a specific timeline for any potential state legislative redistricting effort, though the next regular legislative session would be the earliest opportunity for lawmakers to take up such a proposal.
