Tennessee signs map splitting Memphis into three GOP districts

Gov. Bill Lee signed HB 7002 and HB 7003 on May 7, 2026, redrawing Tennessee's nine congressional districts. The Tennessee House passed the bills 64-25 and the Senate passed them 25-5 in a one-day special session Lee called on May 6. Both bills took effect immediately upon signature. The special session was called at President Donald Trump's request, part of a broader Republican push to maximize House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The new map cracks Memphis, currently represented by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) in a seat he has held since 2007, into three separate congressional districts: the new TN-2, TN-4, and TN-7. Cracking is a 📖redistricting technique that splits a concentrated voting bloc across multiple districts so it can't elect a candidate of its choice in any single district. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) publicly urged the state to "redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis" on social media before the session.

TN-9 under the old map was approximately 60 percent Black. The new map distributes Memphis's Black residents across three districts where they form a minority of voters in each. No Tennessee congressional district will have a Black voting majority under the new map, eliminating the state's only Black-majority congressional seat.

Tennessee Republicans cited the U.S. Supreme Court's April 29, 2026 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais as clearing the legal path for the map. Callais held 6-3 that federal courts can't block a state from using maps that reduce Black representation when the prior map was itself court-ordered. The ruling overturned a lower court injunction blocking Louisiana's congressional map. The decision was 9-0 on the question of standing.

Rep. Steve Cohen filed a federal lawsuit on May 7 challenging the map under Section 2 of the 📖Voting Rights Act, which bars voting changes that diminish the political power of minority voters. NAACP Tennessee President Gloria Sweet-Love filed an emergency petition in state court the same day. State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) joined as a co-plaintiff. A federal judge in the Western District of Tennessee issued a temporary restraining order halting the map pending a full hearing.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Cookeville) introduced the 📖redistricting bills on May 5 and argued the state Supreme Court's prior ruling, which found the old map violated the Tennessee Constitution's contiguity requirements, made a new map necessary. Brooke Shannon, who teaches political science at the University of Memphis, said the point behind cracking "is to ensure Democratic voters will not get representation in Congress because they will be minorities." Jonathan Cervas, a 📖redistricting specialist at Carnegie Mellon University, noted a compliant map didn't have to crack Memphis and said Republicans chose that outcome from multiple legally valid options.

If the map survives legal challenges, Tennessee's nine-member congressional delegation will be entirely Republican, a 9-0 split in a state where approximately 34 percent of voters backed the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024. Cohen has been the only Democrat in Tennessee's congressional delegation since 2007. Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) supported the 📖redistricting, telling The Tennessean on May 4 that the Senate would "have lots of conversations" before the session.

Tennessee requires only simple majorities in both chambers to pass 📖redistricting maps. The state has no independent 📖redistricting commission; the legislature draws maps with the governor retaining veto power. Twenty-one states use independent or bipartisan 📖redistricting commissions for congressional maps; Tennessee is not among them. The 📖redistricting cost $3.1 million in the middle of an election year; Speaker Sexton said the state would reimburse counties for administrative expenses.