The redraw slices through Shelby County, splitting the predominantly Black communities that have anchored Cohen’s Democratic stronghold for nearly two decades.
The proposal arrives less than a week after the Supreme Court issued a ruling that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a decision that opened the door for Republican-led Southern states to dismantle districts drawn to protect minority voting power. Tennessee’s new map is among the first to test the limits of that ruling, aiming to transform a delegation that currently includes one Democrat into an entirely Republican bloc.
In addition to targeting Cohen’s Memphis seat, the map carves up Maury County in a way that is expected to shore up support for Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican who had been flagged by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as vulnerable. The redrawn boundaries would pull more conservative voters into his district, effectively insulating him from a competitive challenge in November.
Republican leaders in both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly have lined up behind the plan, which is expected to pass on Thursday. Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, called the legislature into a special session on Friday, immediately after the Supreme Court’s ruling, and the assembly adopted rules limiting public comment in an effort to speed the map through without extended debate.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton defended the map in a social media post, arguing that the Supreme Court had opened the door for states to prioritize partisan advantage over racial considerations. “The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind,” Sexton wrote. “The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics. Today, Tennessee joins other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee quickly signaled its approval. Reilly Richardson, a spokesperson for the committee, said in a statement that “House Republicans remain well-positioned to re-elect our incumbents, compete aggressively across the map, and grow the majority in November.” The statement made no mention of the Voting Rights Act or the impact on minority representation in Shelby County.
Civil rights advocates have already begun raising alarms, warning that the map represents a direct assault on the remaining protections for Black voters in the South. The redraw effectively concentrates Democratic voters into a smaller area while dispersing the rest across surrounding Republican-leaning districts, a strategy that legal experts say would have been far more difficult to pursue before the Supreme Court’s recent ruling.
