Transcript:
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
With an update on Southern Republicans’ efforts to redraw congressional maps in ways that favor their party. Alabama is moving ahead with plans to bring back a map previously found to violate the Voting Rights Act. Elections in affected districts are now scheduled for August. In South Carolina, redistricting efforts seem to have stalled out. And in Tennessee, both parties are grappling with the aftermath of that state’s new map that splits the majority-Black Memphis into three districts that are likely to elect Republicans. NPR political reporter Stephen Fowler joins us now from Tennessee. Good morning, Stephen.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So what’s been the reaction from people you’ve talked to there?
FOWLER: Well, in court, there are several lawsuits at the state and federal level. In the court of public opinion, you’ve got some folks in Memphis who are worried that the new lines will lead to Black voters having their voices diluted and then tuning out of the election process altogether, like Pastor J. Lawrence Turner, who’s also head of the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis.
Continuing coverage: Tennessee redistricting
J LAWRENCE TURNER: Some will say, hey, what’s the use? Why participate if this is what’s going to happen – if they’re just going to do what they want? I’ll reverse it and say this is absolutely the reason why you need to vote, so that things like this don’t continue to happen.
FOWLER: His two church campuses are now in two congressional districts in the same city. Turner told me that the needs and problems of Memphis have been sacrificed for a national Republican agenda.
MARTIN: OK, but what about Republicans there? What are they saying about these new boundary lines and that national agenda?
FOWLER: Republicans control things in Washington and in Tennessee at the state level, but not Memphis or the surrounding Shelby County. There’s been long-simmering local beef over things like crime and education, and that has spilled over into this zero-sum fight for Congress. Here’s Luke Cymbal with the Shelby County GOP.
LUKE CYMBAL: There are serious challenges here that the local government clearly struggles with. And as a Republican, I would say there’s a reason for that. It’s poor leadership. The policies of the local Democrat Party don’t work.
FOWLER: The other thing, Michel, is that in these three new districts, Shelby County and Memphis don’t account for a majority of the votes. So in a way, it dilutes the power of both Democrats and Republicans there in the grand scheme of things.
MARTIN: So who has that power now?
FOWLER: Well, yesterday, I drove three hours and 200 miles across the state to the other end of this new district and talked to Republican officials in the suburban Williamson and more rural Maury counties just south of Nashville. Their arguments? One, it’s about trying to elect more Republicans to support President Trump’s agenda in Congress. Two, they pointed out Democrats have also previously gerrymandered Tennessee and are currently gerrymandering in blue states. And three, they say the new district lines, with a fairly even mix of urban, suburban and rural Tennessee, is more reflective of the state. And it’s going to force candidates to work harder to appeal to everyone.
MARTIN: All right. Well, we’ll see about that. So Tennessee’s map is now official. Where do things stand in the other Southern states we mentioned?
FOWLER: It’s chaotic, confusing, a mixed bag. You had some Republicans in South Carolina’s state Senate block an effort to tack on redistricting to the end of their session agenda. In Alabama, the Supreme Court cleared the way for that state to use a map that had previously been struck down. So some of the state’s congressional primaries will happen next Tuesday. Others are now pushed to August using those previously illegal 2023 boundary lines. It reiterates conflicting realities here. Republicans are making these changes for political aims – fewer Democrats, more Republicans. But in the South, Michel, you can’t disentangle political aims from race and historic fights over civil rights. So for Black voters, those national aims just have a different connotation.
MARTIN: That is NPR’s Stephen Fowler reporting from Tennessee. Stephen. Thank you.
FOWLER: Thank you.
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