{"id":232,"date":"2026-05-07T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=232"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:30:09","slug":"tennessee-lawmakers-to-vote-on-new-u-s-house-map-sought-by-trump-that-carves-up-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=232","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee lawmakers to vote on new U.S. House map sought by Trump that carves up Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NASHVILLE, Tenn.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>Republican lawmakers in Tennessee forged ahead with a plan Thursday that could carve up a majority-Black congressional district, reshaping it to the GOP\u2019s advantage as part of President Trump\u2019s strategy to try to hold on to a slim House majority in the November midterm elections.<\/p>\n

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Protesters shouted \u201cNo Jim Crow\u201d outside the House and Senate chambers as lawmakers convened to consider the legislation. As the Republican-led House later voted for the new map, Democratic lawmakers locked arms at the front of the chamber while protesters yelled and made noise. A final vote in the Senate would sent the map to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who called lawmakers into special session.<\/p>\n

The redistricting effort in Tennessee is one of several rapidly advancing plans in Southern states as Republicans try to leverage a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. <\/p>\n

The court ruled that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district as it attempted to comply with the federal law. The high court\u2019s decision altered a decades-old understanding of the law, giving Republicans grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats. <\/p>\n

Louisiana has postponed its congressional primary to give time for state lawmakers to craft a new House map. Legislation awaiting a final vote in Alabama also would upend the state\u2019s congressional primaries if courts allow the state to change its U.S. House districts. In South Carolina, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers urged on by Trump have taken initial steps to add congressional redistricting to their agenda. <\/p>\n

The states are the latest to join an already fierce national redistricting battle. Since Trump prodded Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last year, eight states have adopted new congressional districts. From that, Republicans think they could gain as many as 13 seats while Democrats think they could gain up to 10. But some competitive races mean the parties may not get everything they sought in the November elections. <\/p>\n

Tennessee Republicans act despite protests<\/h2>\n

As a first step to adopting new House districts, Tennessee lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation that would repeal a state law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting. They then passed a bill that would reopen a candidate qualifying until May 15 to allow time for new people to enter the U.S. House primaries and existing candidates to switch districts or drop out. <\/p>\n

The proposed House map would break up Tennessee\u2019s lone Democratic-held district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis, creating a ripple effect of alterations to districts throughout the western and central parts of the state.<\/p>\n

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the proposed districts were drawn based on population and politics, not racial data.<\/p>\n

But Democrats dismissed such assertions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacist in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump,\u201d said state Rep. Justin Pearson, a Black Democrat from Memphis who is running for the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Torrey Harris, another Black Democrat from Memphis, said he would lose part of his voting power as a result of the congressional districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot celebrate democracy while carving out Black communities,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all know it, whether we say it or not, that this map impacts Black people negatively.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Democrats noted that the state Supreme Court in April 2022 rejected a challenge to the current congressional map, finding it was too close to the election to make changes. This year, there\u2019s even less time before the Aug. 6 primary, raising the potential of confusion for both candidates and voters, Democrats said.<\/p>\n

A plan for a new primary advances in Alabama<\/h2>\n

Protesters watching an Alabama legislative committee Thursday erupted in shouts of \u201cshame\u201d as Republican lawmakers advanced legislation to authorize special congressional primaries if the state can put a new congressional map in place for the November midterms. <\/p>\n

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision arising from Louisiana, Alabama is seeking to overturn a court injunction that created a second U.S. House district with a substantial percentage of Black voters. That map led to the 2024 election of Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Republicans want instead to use a 2023 map drawn by state lawmakers that would give the GOP an opportunity to reclaim Figures\u2019 district.<\/p>\n

If a court grants Alabama\u2019s request, the legislation under consideration would ignore the May 19 primary results for congressional seats and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under the revised districts.<\/p>\n

The House passed the legislation on a party-line vote Thursday after four hours of fiery debate. A final vote in the Senate is expected Friday.<\/p>\n

South Carolina may add redistricting to its agenda<\/h2>\n

The South Carolina Senate could take up a resolution Thursday giving lawmakers permission to return later, after their regular work ends, to redraw congressional districts that could eliminate the state\u2019s only Democratic-held district. The proposal, which passed the House on Wednesday, needs a two-thirds vote in both chambers.<\/p>\n

Republican House leaders said after the vote that they plan to introduce a new map Thursday and hold committee meetings on Friday. But during debate Wednesday, Republicans fended off specific questions from Democrats, including why they were willing to stop the June 9 U.S. House primary elections well after candidates filed and how much a rescheduled primary could cost.<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Justin Bamberg said he felt sorry for Republicans who, he said, were giving up their principles to follow the whims of Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president of the United States is a very powerful man. Wields a heavy, heavy thumb \u2014 Truth Social, X, Meta, Instagram. To be honest I don\u2019t envy our Republican colleagues,\u201d Bamberg said.<\/p>\n

Loller, Chandler, Collins and Lieb write for the Associated Press. Chandler reported from Montgomery, Ala.; Collins from Columbia, S.C.; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Mo. AP reporter Kristin M. Hall contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n

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Protesters shouted \u201cNo Jim Crow\u201d outside the House and Senate chambers as lawmakers convened to consider the legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTennessee lawmakers to vote on new U.S. House map sought by Trump that carves up Memphis - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tennessee lawmakers to vote on new U.S. House map sought by Trump that carves up Memphis - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Protesters shouted \u201cNo Jim Crow\u201d outside the House and Senate chambers as lawmakers convened to consider the legislation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T17:30:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"Tennessee lawmakers to vote on new U.S. House map sought by Trump that carves up Memphis\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T17:30:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232\"},\"wordCount\":1051,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/8a78b3e1284f949a0644e56cc7738316-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232\",\"name\":\"Tennessee lawmakers to vote on new U.S. House map sought by Trump that carves up Memphis - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/8a78b3e1284f949a0644e56cc7738316-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T17:30:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=232#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/8a78b3e1284f949a0644e56cc7738316-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/8a78b3e1284f949a0644e56cc7738316-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1712,\"caption\":\"A woman protests outside the House chamber before a special session of the state legislature to redraw U.S. Congressional voting maps Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. 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