Tennessee Democrats are disputing Republican claims that a move to redraw Memphis’ majority-minority congressional district is a political effort void of discrimination and say a legal challenge is certain.
“This is obviously about race. It’s about taking one county that has a majority African-American community and decimating it,” state Rep. Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) said Monday.
It’s about taking one county that has a majority African-American community and decimating it.
Rep. Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville)
At President Donald Trump’s request, Gov. Bill Lee called the legislature into a special session this week to redraw the 9th U.S. Congressional District in Memphis from a Democratic stronghold into a Republican district. The move could give the GOP a 9-0 advantage in Tennessee’s U.S. congressional delegation by adding another Republican after November’s midterm election.
The call for a special session, which starts Tuesday, stems from a U.S. Supreme Court decision in which justices ruled a portion of the 1965 Civil Rights Act no longer prevents large minority voting blocks from being diluted.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton filed five bills Monday to prepare for the session, including one to suspend residency requirements for U.S. House seats and to remove a prohibition on changing congressional districts between apportionments done every 10 years.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Senate Republican leaders are hailing the session as an opportunity to send another Republican lawmaker to Congress to maintain Trump’s policies, despite the potential for discriminating against a large Black populace in Shelby County. The 9th District includes inner-city Memphis and part of Tipton County.
“Democrats in Washington have made clear their goal is to stop President Trump’s agenda and pursue impeachment. Tennessee Republicans will not stand by while the radical left pushes policies that weaken our borders, undermine public safety and move our nation in the wrong direction,” McNally said in a statement.
Gov. Bill Lee calls special session to redraw TN’s U.S. House map in hopes of favoring GOP 9-0
Republican Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin echoed those words and said the special session to redraw the state’s districts “is not about discrimination or race.”
“This is strictly politics, and it’s not Tennessee politics. It’s federal politics,” Haile said.
He disagreed with the idea that creating majority Republican districts by slicing up portions of Memphis would “cancel” residents’ votes in the state’s largest Black population.
Following the 2020 census, Tennessee Republicans split Davidson County into three districts, watering down Democrats’ votes with Republican rural and suburban voters to take out longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville.
Republican state Sen. Ferrell Haile said the move is necessary because Democrats have “absolutely gone crazy” at the federal level.
Haile said the move is necessary because Democrats have “absolutely gone crazy” at the federal level, for example, by refusing to vote to fund the government twice and opposing all Trump policies. Democrats declined to keep the government open last year in a failed effort to force Trump to keep insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
McKenzie, though, called the contention that race is not involved “a blatant lie” and said if lawmakers tried to split Knox County into separate districts, “Republicans would lose their minds.”
In addition to the looming redistricting of Memphis, the legislature has been passing laws to give itself more control over the city.
State lawmakers voted in the recently completed regular legislative session to create a state-appointed board with power over the elected Memphis Shelby County School Board and gave themselves the power to investigate and potentially remove Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy, a Democrat.
Lawmakers also passed a bill requiring Mulroy’s office to document its handling of all cases stemming from arrests made by the Memphis Safe Task Force, which is a combination of local, state, and federal authorities sent by Trump and Lee to crack down on crime.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said a legal challenge would be filed if the Republican-controlled legislature redraws the Memphis district.
Clemmons claimed Trump could be desperate for votes to stay in office and keep his agenda going.
Clemmons said state law doesn’t allow a new map to be drawn and he questioned whether the state has enough time to put a new congressional district map into effect for this year’s election. He suggested the earliest that new districts could be put in place would be 2028.
Tennessee’s law specifically bans mid-cycle redistricting. But with Sexton’s bill lawmakers could change it during the special session to allow for redistricting anytime.
Qualifying deadlines have passed for this year’s ballot, and states are typically prevented from redrawing district lines without figures from a new census, which is done every 10 years to come up with population counts that help lawmakers draw district lines.
“There’s a whole series of timelines that are at play here,” Clemmons said.
Candidate qualifications, overseas military ballots controlled by the federal government, state primary dates, early voting dates and processes for the delivery of ballots would be affected, he added.
Republican reservations
GOP lawmakers such as Sen. Paul Bailey of Sparta and Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson said Monday they’re waiting to see a map before making a commitment.
Bailey said he favors electing as many Republicans as possible but pointed out that questions have been raised about whether “this immediate redistricting is necessary or is it legal to comply with the (Supreme Court) decision.”
He wants a legal analysis from Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti before making a decision.
Bailey said it’s important to keep the state’s three grand divisions — East, Middle and West — intact, even though congressional districts have crossed those lines in the past. Otherwise, he said, the legislature “runs the risk of confusing some voters” by making major changes.
Barrett, who has butted heads frequently with House Republican leadership, said he understands why Trump wants redistricting, in light of Virginia amending its state constitution to redraw district maps favoring Democrats.
Yet, he called the timing “problematic.” Barrett said his ultimate decision would be based on the impact new lines would have on his district, which takes in part of Dickson, Hickman and Lewis counties. One map being floated could split those into three congressional districts, he said.
Republican Rep. Michele Reneau of Hamilton County posted comments on Facebook saying districts are to be drawn after the census and, according to state law, “may not be changed between apportionments.”
Tennessee was split 64 percent Republican and 36 percent Democrat in the most recent presidential election, she said.
“A proportional approach would reflect that balance more closely than a map designed for a single-party outcome,” Reneau said in her post.