Tennessee Senate plans to appeal court ruling that requires them to draw new district maps

Republican Senate Leader Randy McNally wants a court to reconsider blocking the state’s new Senate maps. A court ruling Wednesday gave the state 15 days to redraw the maps, while allowing new House maps to stand.  

More: Court blocks Tennessee Senate maps in redistricting lawsuit

A lawsuit backed by Tennessee Democrats argues that districts in Nashville are not being numbered consecutively in violation of the state constitution. But McNally says if they’re forced to redo the maps, they might not be as beneficial to the city’s voters. 

“It might not be as good as the one we submitted,” he said, “because we went out of our way in Nashville to provide a majority-minority district.”

McNally says they plan to appeal the decision. Also, in the court’s ruling Wednesday, the filing deadline for candidates who wish to run for Senate was pushed to May 5 from Thursday. 

Senate Democratic Leader Jeff Yarbro applauded the decision. In remarks to reporters on Thursday, he said, moving forward, he hopes they can produce a map that follows the state constitution.

“The best case scenario here is that people work together, get good maps filed and done and put into place,” Yarbro said.