Tennessee Republicans pass map splitting up the state’s lone Black majority district

Tennessee’s Republican-led Legislature passed a new congressional map splitting up the state’s lone majority-Black district. The move is a swift response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s major redistricting ruling last week.

Governor Bill Lee is expected to sign the decision into law. The redrawn district lines put Republicans in a position to gain a seat in this fall’s midterm elections and secure full control over Tennessee’s congressional delegation.

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, the state’s other Democratic stronghold, into five districts.

The Tennessee state House passed the map without any Republicans speaking in its defense. 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.