Tennessee Republicans unveil new map that would dismantle lone Democratic seat

WASHINGTON - Tennessee Republicans proposed a new congressional map Wednesday that would give the party a chance to hold all nine of the state's House seats.

A week after the Supreme Court ruling that limited the use of race in drawing congressional districts, state House Speaker Cameron Sexton released an image of the proposed new lines on social media. Under the map, the Black-majority 9th District, currently held by Democrat Steve Cohen, would be split between three Republican-leaning districts.

"The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind," Sexton said. "The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics. Today, Tennessee joins other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps."

Tennessee legislators convened in a special session this week to revisit their congressional map. Several GOP-led Southern states are weighing redraws of their House maps ahead of the November elections in light of last week's ruling.

They include Louisiana - the state at the center of the Supreme Court case - where Republican officials have postponed the May 16 primaries for House races as state legislators look to draw new lines. The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana's current map as an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander," ruling that the state should not have been forced to draw a map with a second Black-majority district to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Cohen, who has represented his Memphis-anchored seat since 2007, called the proposal from Tennessee Republicans "insane."

"It's a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the Black community's and our entire city's voice," he said on social media.

Cohen, who is white, currently faces a primary challenge from state Rep. Justin Pearson, who is Black and several decades younger. Pearson has also criticized the Republican-led effort as "racist gerrymandering."

"We have to defend our right to representation and our voices in Congress, in the state House and in elected office," he said Tuesday on MS NOW before the map was introduced.

The newly proposed map could also help Republicans shore up the state's 5th District in Middle Tennessee, where embattled GOP Rep. Andy Ogles faces a well-funded Democratic challenger.

According to The New York Times, a vote on the proposed map in the General Assembly is expected as early as Thursday, putting Tennessee on track to be the first state to respond legislatively to the Supreme Court decision.

GOP legislators in Alabama are also in special session this week, seeking to set up alternative plans for elections if the Supreme Court lifts an injunction barring the state from redrawing its map. Republican leaders there are hopeful the court will allow the state to revert to a previous version of its congressional map, which contained one majority-Black district instead of two.

And Republicans in South Carolina are taking steps to redraw their state's House map, potentially targeting the Black-plurality district of longtime Rep. James E. Clyburn, the state's lone Democrat in Congress.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 1:50 PM.