Tennessee politics kicked off with a bang in 2022. Right out of the gate, Republican lawmakers made changes to the state’s congressional maps, putting Democrats at a major disadvantage in state and federal elections. As Republicans were slicing and dicing Nashville, the FBI was busy building a case that would ultimately land Rep. Glen Casada in court and out of a job — a stunning fall from power for the former House Speaker. Through it all, Republican legislators filed bill after bill targeting the LGBTQ community, with an eye toward winning the midterms.
Redistricting / Splitting Nashville
The story: The Republican-led General Assembly split Nashville’s formerly unified congressional district into three during the redistricting process. Voters, NAACP groups and Democratic officials claimed the process was a classic case of gerrymandering, but, unless a court says otherwise, those maps will be in effect until 2030.
The takeaway: Congressman Jim Cooper predicted the result of this year’s midterm after the Republican-led redistricting back in February.
“After this gerrymandering, you will look for the Nashville congressman, not in Nashville, but in Clarksville or in Cookeville or in Columbia. And those are very fine towns, but they’re not the state capitol,” said Cooper.
Turns out he was right. Republicans took their newly drawn districts by a large margin in Districts 5, 6 and 7, which now include portions of Nashville. That means residents of Nashville are now represented by incumbent Congressmen Mark Green of Clarksville, John Rose of Cookeville and Andy Ogles of Columbia.
The division also led to confusion when several voting precincts serving two districts gave voters the wrong ballot. Davidson County Election Administrator Jeff Roberts said the root of the problem was how the new maps were drawn.
“You could have streets that one side are in one district, the other side of the street are in another district. Half the street are in one district. There’s a lot of variety there,” said Roberts after the snafu.
WPLN profiled one area in South Nashville where all three lines converge. Nashville state Sen. Jeff Yarbro represents residents in each of the three districts. He says where the split at is inconvenient.
“If you go to the Baja Burrito for dinner and to the movie theater across the street to see a movie and then grab coffee afterwards, you’re likely to be in all three districts, despite the fact you’ve been in your car for like four minutes,” said Yarbro.
“It shouldn’t really be possible to have a pub crawl or one date that takes you through three congressional districts,” he said.
After November, Tennessee Democrats only have one member of Congress in its federal delegation, Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. Republicans now hold eight of the nine U.S. House seats in the state.
Glen Casada Indictment
The story: Franklin Republican Glen Casada pleaded not guilty in August to 20 federal charges, including wire fraud, bribery, and theft of federal funds. Prosecutors say Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren set up a political consulting business under a fictitious name to secure a contract with the state. They allegedly collected close to $160,000 from the state.
The takeaway: Casada and Cothren could face up to 20 years in prison, a stunning reversal in fortune for Tennessee’s former House Speaker and his closest aide. During the last legislative session, several members of the General Assembly were subpoenaed in the case. Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, resigned before pleading guilty to wire fraud for her involvement.
The charges cap off a busy few years for federal investigators, who raided Casada’s home and office in 2021 along with several other lawmakers. Casada resigned as House Speaker that same year after racist and sexists texts came out between him and Cothren. But he resisted pressure to step down, serving out his term representing Franklin until this year’s November midterms.
A large ethics reform bill was passed was passed last session, legislation Republican leaders acknowledge was partially motivated by the scandal. One change would require vendors to have a government ID to register a Political Action Committee and require more disclosure of candidate expenditures.
Casada’s trial date was set for October of this year, but been delayed to Oct. 3, 2023.
Culture War Legislation
Divisive social issues were high priority for the General Assembly in 2022 with bills that would ban books, bar transgender women from sports and ignore federal protections for same-sex marriage.
The story: Several pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation were proposed last session and some passed. One would prohibit biological males from competing in public higher education sports designated for females. Another would allow a state committee to ban books statewide, as more conservative parents challenge reading materials in schools. Lawmakers also proposed a measure that would have allowed ministers to deny same-sex marriages. That bill failed after it was discovered it would create a legal loophole for older men to marry underage girls.
The takeaway: Bills targeting the LGBTQ community were proposed by Republicans here and across the country as lawmakers courted conservative voters leading up the midterms. Expect more of this legislation in 2023. The state’s Senate Majority Leader and House Speaker have indicated they will go after gender-affirming care, including surgeries on minors, in the upcoming session. They and several other Republican lawmakers attended a rally in October hosted by conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who has used his podcast and online following to target drag performances and other LGBTQ spaces.
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