Tennessee’s last-minute new U.S. House map first appeared on Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s social media pages in the hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act.
The blurry picture was quickly translated into law after Republicans rushed to up their 2026 midterm advantage, and Democrats decried the move as silencing Black voters in Memphis.
But, while the map clearly dilutes Memphis’ Democratic power and therefore the largest block of Black voters in the state, election data shows that the districts were drawn precisely to create nine seats where Trump won 60 percent of the vote in the presidential election of 2024 and Blackburn won the 2018 Senate election, no matter how narrow.
Blackburn won districts 4, 5 and 9 during her 2018 Senate race against Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen by less than 1,000 votes, according to voting data analyzed by the Lookout using Dave’s Redistricting. Blackburn’s winning margin in those three districts was 0.4 percent or less, and she did not get 50 percent of the vote in any of them.
Kent Syler, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University, said in previous redistricting cycles, Democratic and Republican state lawmakers were always careful about how they drew maps, such as trying to split as few counties as possible. But the new map splits more counties than ever before, likely signaling lawmakers were following a criteria.
Tennessee Republicans pass US House map carving up Memphis days after SCOTUS guts Voting Rights Act
“It’s part of the partisanship environment we’re living in,” said Syler, who was involved in the 2000s redistricting process when Tennessee Democrats were in power. “Both parties are now trying to engineer a specific outcome.”
Tennessee lawmakers approved a new U.S. House map in early May, one week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states like Tennessee no longer have to draw majority-minority districts to ensure fair representation for Black voters.
During the special session on redistricting, Republican leaders said the map was created in consultation with the White House but would not answer how or when it was first drawn.
The new congressional map is the GOP’s attempt to increase its 8-1 advantage in Tennessee’s congressional representation to 9-0, by splitting Memphis across three districts.
Republicans nationally are likely facing a bad midterm election, as President Donald Trump’s approval ratings continue to sag. The last election where Republicans faced a similarly bad electoral environment was 2018. Blackburn handily won the statewide Senate election that year, but under the old Congressional map, she lost in two districts to Bredesen.
Syler said Republicans may have been slightly greedy under the new map, but cautioned, “if anything happens, they can just redraw it.”
Lines are drawn to help state lawmakers run
Outside of the specific partisan votes, the new districts also include precise lines to make sure state Rep. Johnny Garrett of Goodlettesville and state Sen. Brent Taylor, both Republicans, can run in specific congressional elections.
Garrett has been running in the 6th for almost a year. The map specifically carves out a sliver of Sumner County that includes Garrett’s listed home address and places it in the 6th district. The rest of Sumner County is included in the new 7th Congressional District.
Congressional candidates are not required to live in their districts, but it often helps.All but a sliver of Sumner County, around Hendersonville and Goodlettesville, is in District 7, but state Rep. Johnny Garrett lives in the part in 6th, where he’s been running for Congress since July 2025.
Taylor’s home city of Eads is also drawn into the 9th district. Mapmakers had plenty of ways to divide up Memphis. But Taylor, a former funeral home director and congressional candidate, announced his campaign for the seat within hours of the maps’ approval and said he would put $1 million of his own money into the race.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.