Few big shifts in district lines after Metro Council approves new election maps

The Metro Council has approved new legislative maps, which is the last step in redistricting. The final draft, which the council put its stamp on this week, responds to some of the complaints that had been raised in previous versions. In Nashville, city employees use census data each decade to redraw city council and school board districts. It’s distinct from the state’s process, where politicians have a hand in deciding districts at the congressional and state legislative level.

In August, the city employees hosted community meetings and took online input on the first draft of maps.

Nashville’s planning staffers have worked to balance population growth, ensure you can get to all parts of the district without coming across a physical barrier like the river, preserve districts’ character, follow the Voting Rights Act and keep communities of similar interest together.

The final maps were presented to the Metro Planning Commission in early December and approved by the Metro Council this week. But they don’t take effect until the 2023 elections.

So where is the substantial change?

The changes within Metro are not as significant as those proposed at the state level or how Tennessee’s congressional districts are being redrawn to split Nashville into three pieces.

But if we think of redistricting like a puzzle, then each shift causes changes elsewhere. One major change Greg Claxton and his team in the Metro Planning Department had to make was to move District 8 from Madison to the southeast border close to La Vergne.

It was one of few ways to make the pieces fit, since the area north of the Cumberland River has become relatively underpopulated, while Southeast Nashville districts have grown overpopulated.

“Other than the big move of [District] 8, I feel like most people’s districts are pretty close to how they work now,” Claxton tells WPLN News.

Click here to see how your district changed

District 3 Councilmember Jennifer Gamble and residents were concerned that the first-draft maps would break up historically Black neighborhoods. Since the planning department uses the Voting Rights Act as a guiding principle that was something they quickly worked to correct.

“[Proposal A] drastically changed the demographics, socioeconomic and geographical character of the district,” Gamble told the planning commission in early December. “But after the community input, the sessions, the emails the second two proposals, we feel proposal C better reflects and is a better balance.” 

But not every request could be accommodated. For instance, after multiple pitches from District 5 Councilmember Sean Parker, the East Bank will not be looped into his district, which covers a portion of East Nashville. The bank is currently being redeveloped to be home to Oracle’s local campus and a part of the mayor’s plan to revamp the area around Nissan Stadium as a neighborhood.

“We know it’s slated for a tremendous amount of investment and growth,” Parker said to the planning commission. “People want that political accountability to East Nashville moving forward for those areas.”