Special Session: Congressional Redistricting

Tennessee’s new congressional maps are now facing multiple legal challenges, as voters, candidates and the NAACP, file to stop new maps from going into effect before the midterms.

The Tennessee Democratic Party filed its lawsuit Friday in federal court, seeking an immediate hearing on whether the new maps can go forward.

The lawsuit comes a day after Tennessee became the first state to approve new congressional maps following a decision last week by the U.S. Supreme Court. The change paved the way for lawmakers to redistrict areas like Memphis, which has previously been protected by part of the Voting Rights Act. President Donald Trump has called on several GOP-led states to create new maps in light of the decision.

More: WPLN redistricting updates

The legal challenge from Democrats is the second in as many days, as the NAACP quickly filed an emergency petition Thursday, arguing that the legislature didn’t have the authority to strike down a 50-year-old law against mid-decade redistricting.

An NAACP challenge to the state’s 2022 maps was rejected in court at that time because the decision would’ve come too close to an election. Democrats argue that timing consideration should apply to these new maps, which require county governments to update their voter rolls and readjust boundaries.

In a May 4 memo obtained by WPLN News, Tennessee’s Coordinator of Elections, Mark Goins wrote, “This has the potential to affect ballot styles, voter assignments, notices and election administration across the state.”

The Tennessee Democratic Party’s lawsuit points to 2022 court testimony in which election officials said moving the candidate qualifying deadline past April 7 would “wreak electoral chaos,” cause “voter confusion,” and “risk disenfranchisement of voters.”

The legislature voted this week to extend the deadline to get onto the ballot to May 15. Democrats are asking the court to strike down the new congressional maps as Tennessee’s early voting was set to begin in July.

Not long after Tennessee’s new congressional map became law, the NAACP Tennessee State Conference sued in state court asserting that the mid-decade redistricting is illegal.

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Heeding a call from President Trump to give Republicans more seats in Congress, Tennessee’s GOP-led statehouse voted Thursday to carve Memphis into three reliably red districts.

The NAACP quickly filed a legal challenge to the new maps.

Democrats in both chambers staged walkouts as the measure passed. Three protesters from Memphis were arrested for refusing to clear the balcony at the House Speaker’s discretion, including the brother of Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, who had been running for congress in Memphis’s former 9th Congressional District.

“These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacists in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump,” Pearson said. “What you are doing today is eviscerating the only Black-majority congressional district in our state because we are majority Black.”

Pearson, along with other Black lawmakers in the House, pointed to the historical obstacles Black voters have faced.

“This map was drafted based on politics, based on population and the opportunity for the first time in history for us to send an entire Republican delegation from Tennessee to represent the state in Washington, D.C.,” said Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knox.

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Sen. John Stevens, R-Hungtingdon, who sponsored the new maps, said that Democrats in Illinois, Massachusetts and other states have also redrawn congressional districts to favor their party.

“This bill represents Tennessee’s attempt to maximize our partisan advantage,” he said.

Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, said the move will hurt Memphis voters and threaten democracy.

“You cannot take a majority Black city, fracture its voting power and then tell us race has nothing to do with it,” she said.

NashVillager Podcast: The Congressional maps just keep on changing 

As Democrats walked out of the Tennessee House in protest, demonstrators set off dozens of noise devices and dropped them into hard-to-reach places in the gallery.

Republicans alter elections

In addition to drawing new districts, Tennessee Republicans dropped a requirement that voters get a notice in the mail if their polling place changes because of re-drawn maps. The general assembly now says local governments can simply post to a public website.

The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government released a statement, saying, in part: “Voters need more information, not less, if their voting location and precinct is changing.” The group says that’s especially important when lawmakers make changes as quickly as they have this week.

To pave the way for the new map, lawmakers also changed a law dating back 50 years that banned mid-decade redistricting.

And lawmakers are reopening the candidate qualifying window until May 15 — essentially one week — to allow time for new people to enter the U.S. House primaries, and for existing candidates to switch districts or drop out.

Officials react to historic change

In statements after the session, Republican leaders touted their work.

“We have passed a fair and legal congressional map that reflects the longstanding conservative character of Tennessee. The direction of our country hangs in the balance in the upcoming election. The fight for control of Congress is a civilizational struggle for the future of our economy, the security of our communities and the strength of our nation,” wrote Senate Speaker Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge.

“This week, Tennessee joined other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps. We have accomplished the Governor’s call for this special session. I am proud of the dedication shown by House and Senate members in coming together to pass meaningful, effective legislation for the benefit of all Tennesseans,” wrote House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville.

The Tennessee Democratic Party criticized the outcome for diluting “the voice of black Memphians.”

“That congressional leaders would vote to disenfranchise one of the few remaining sources of representation for Tennessee’s Black communities is, sadly, no surprise. History has a way of repeating itself when those in power refuse to learn from it. This is nothing less than a modern-day revival of Jim Crow, proving that racism remains deeply embedded in the fabric of our political systems,” wrote Tennessee Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Solomon Trapp.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a developing story last updated at 5:25 p.m.

It was a chaotic morning in the Tennessee General Assembly as lawmakers raced toward redistricting votes. Gov. Bill Lee signed a measure to strike down a 1972 law that prohibited mid-decade redistricting.

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Gov. Bill Lee has signed a measure to strike down a 1972 law that prohibited mid-decade redistricting, a mere hour after the bill cleared the Republican supermajority in the statehouse. Heeding a call from President Donald Trump, state Republicans are altering Tennessee law and the timeline for its elections to give the GOP another seat in Congress.

Lawmakers worked quickly Thursday morning to get the bill to the governor as the legislature speeds towards a final vote on new congressional maps that will take effect before the midterms in November.

The proposed maps, unveiled 24 hours before the start of Thursday’s session, would split Memphis’s majority-Black voting bloc into three Republican majority districts.

Lee called this week’s special session on redistricting a few days after a U.S. Supreme Court decision undid protections for Memphis.

How long have Tennessee’s political maps been gerrymandered?

The current special session may be the fastest Tennessee’s political map has ever been redrawn; but there’s a history of changing the lines for party gain. Plus, the local news for May 7, 2026, and Key Changes looks at comedy in country music.

More: Redistricting live blog

Credits: 
This is a production of Nashville Public Radio.
Host/producer: Nina Cardona
Editor: LaTonya Turner
Additional support: Mack Linebaugh, Tony Gonzalez, Megan Jones and the staff of WPLN and WNXP

After senators suspended one hearing, state troopers cleared people from the room.

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Shelby County is sending TJ Hardaway, the son of late Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, to the Tennessee statehouse to replace his father, who passed away less than two weeks ago.

Hardaway was sworn in to serve Tennessee House District 93 on Thursday morning, in advance of a redistricting vote that will change how the people of Memphis are represented at the congressional level.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee called a special session to redistrict after President Donald Trump urged GOP-led states to create more reliably red seats in Congress.

New congressional maps released Wednesday morning would cut Memphis into three different districts — similar to how Nashville lost its Democratic representation in Congress.

Update: Hardaway’s swearing in ceremony was moved from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning.

Tennessee Republicans unveiled new congressional maps Wednesday morning that would likely help their party gain an extra seat in Congress as a special session on redistricting continues this week.

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Eight states already have adopted new U.S. districts. Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats in five states, while Democrats think they could gain up to 10. Newly proposed redistricting in Southern states could add to the Republicans’ tally.

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