The Tennessee Legislature has passed a new congressional map expected to eliminate the state’s only Democrat-held U.S. House seat.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the map into law.
"Tennessee’s new maps have PASSED the State Senate, and are on their way to be signed into LAW by Gov. Bill Lee," journalist Nick Sortor commented.
"Leftist activists STORMED the Senate chamber and started SCREAMING, but Senators IGNORED them and passed the map," he added.
Watch below:
🚨 BREAKING — IT’S OFFICIAL: Tennessee’s new maps have PASSED the State Senate, and are on their way to be signed into LAW by Gov. Bill Lee
Leftist activists STORMED the Senate chamber and started SCREAMING, but Senators IGNORED them and passed the map 🤣
THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE! pic.twitter.com/2UKeJP0NNd
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 7, 2026
NBC News shared further:
The new map carves up a Memphis-based seat held by longtime Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., into three districts, spreading the Democratic voters into more rural, Republican districts that stretch hundreds of miles east. It also further splits the Nashville metropolitan area into five districts.
ADVERTISEMENTThe long districts run across cross Tennessee’s distinct geographic regions and tie voters from different media markets and time zones together to achieve the desired partisan impact.
Lee moved quickly to call lawmakers into a special session this week to take up a new map proposal ahead of Tennessee’s Aug. 6 primaries.
The Tennessee state House passed the map without any Republican speaking in defense of it. When one member rose to speak, members of the public watching the proceedings from the gallery began chanting and yelling so loudly the House speaker called the vote as Democratic members stood and walked out on the session.
“This map diminishes Memphis,” said state Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat, according to Tennessee Lookout.
“Racism doesn’t become less racist just because it’s called partisan," she added.
Watch Lamar below:
SHOW SOME COURAGE: Caucus Chairwoman Sen. London Lamar tells Republican senators, who know it’s immoral to steal a congressional seat from Black voters in Memphis, to “show some courage.”#HandsOffMemphis #Democrats #tennessee #jimcrow pic.twitter.com/yXrljpnYHq
— Tennessee Senate Democrats (@TNSenateDems) May 6, 2026
More from Tennessee Lookout:
Tennessee finished its legislative session on April 23, but Lee called lawmakers back for a special session after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on April 29 that struck down a provision in the Voting Rights Act requiring states with a history of racial discrimination, like Tennessee, to draw majority-minority districts.
The Supreme Court, across several judicial rulings led by its Republican-appointed majority, has emphasized that as long as there is a partisan reason to draw new congressional or state legislative maps, it’s legal.
Lee and lawmakers were pressured by President Donald Trump to draw a new map as the president faces the prospect of an unfavorable 2026 midterm election result. Traditionally, the party in the White House loses seats in midterm elections, and Trump’s approval rating of around 40% is the same as in 2018, when Republicans lost 41 seats and control of the U.S. House.
Tennessee lawmakers joined a nationwide race between both parties to draw as many new gerrymandered U.S. House seats as possible. The redistricting efforts, which started last year at Trump’s behest to the Republican-led legislature in Texas, have spread to at least 9 other states, led by both parties.
ADVERTISEMENTState Sen. John Stevens, a Huntingdon Republican, when introducing the new U.S. House map for its final vote in the state Senate, mentioned several Democratic controlled legislatures where the maps have been tilted for “partisan advantage.”
“Tennessee is a conservative state, and this map ensures that our congressional delegation reflects that,” Stevens said. “This is about allowing Tennessee to maximize its partisan advantage.”
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