Tennessee Republicans on Wednesday released a proposed new congressional map that would divide Memphis into three districts, reshaping the state’s only Democratic-held seat.
The proposal, released on day two of the anticipated three-day special legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly, is expected to move quickly through committees with floor votes anticipated as early as Thursday.
Tennessee Republican lawmakers today proposed a new congressional map to ensure our state's representation in Washington reflects our conservative values. pic.twitter.com/gun2ccX456
— TN Senate GOP (@tnsenategop) May 6, 2026
Under the new map, Memphis, the state’s only majority-Black district which has been represented by a Democratic congressman since 1983, would no longer anchor a single congressional seat.
Instead, the city would be divided and combined with surrounding Republican-leaning areas, a move that would effectively eliminate the state’s lone Democratic district.
The new proposed map also redraws parts of Davidson County, keeping it split across three districts while making slight boundary adjustments, and notably divides both Maury and Williamson counties so that roughly half of each falls into two different congressional districts.
Sharing the map on social media, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said, “The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind. The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics. Today, Tennessee joins other red and blue states in redrawing their congressional maps.”
Higher quality map of Tennessee’s newly proposed congressional map.
It’s 9R-0D https://t.co/gjnfJRVBjX pic.twitter.com/AldvQTrU9a
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) May 6, 2026
Tennessee Senate Republicans added in a social media post that the new proposed map will “ensure our state’s representation in Washington reflects our conservative values.”
The state’s new proposed congressional map comes just exactly one week after a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, in which the Court struck down Louisiana’s map for relying too heavily on race in drawing district lines.
In a 6-3 decision, the Court signaled a shift away from race-based considerations under the Voting Rights Act, with the majority arguing that such practices can amount to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas went further, questioning whether the Voting Rights Act should apply to redistricting at all and criticizing past interpretations that encouraged drawing districts based primarily on race.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X.
Photo “State Rep. Cameron Sexton” by State Rep. Cameron Sexton.
-Any way you draw congressional districts benefits one political party and hurts others
-The new Tennessee congressional district map makes our districts more “diverse.”
-The new Tennessee congressional map is less contorted than that of many Democrat controlled states – In particular Illinois, the would be Virginia map, and others
-You cannot draw congressional district based on race without making assumptions about race – Isn’t making assumptions about race “racism?”