Tennessee Democrats Scramble to Save 1 House Seat as Redistricting Splits Memphis Into 3 Districts
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 5
Tennessee Democrats Scramble to Save 1 House Seat as Redistricting Splits Memphis Into 3 Districts
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 5
Summary
Thursday’s primary will test whether Tennessee Democrats can preserve the state’s lone Democratic House seat after Republicans broke Memphis’s former Ninth District into three congressional seats.
The upheaval followed a Supreme Court blow to the Voting Rights Act, which cleared the way for a new map that Democrats say diluted Black voting power in the reliably Democratic city.
Steve Cohen, the 77-year-old incumbent, has retired, while Justin Pearson, 31, remained in the race even after his home was drawn out of the old district and now faces a new challenger.
Republicans are treating the redraw as a rare opening to lock in an all-conservative House delegation, while Democrats argue anger over the map could still drive turnout in Memphis.
Could dividing a major city into multiple congressional seats actually increase its legislative influence, or merely dilute its historical voice?
Beyond new district lines, what does the simultaneous state takeover of local schools signal about the future of municipal autonomy?
The Dismantling of Memphis’s Black Congressional District: How Tennessee’s 2026 Redistricting and Supreme Court Rulings Threaten Black Representation Across the South
Overview
After the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, Tennessee Republicans—spurred by national GOP pressure—repealed a decades-old ban on mid-decade redistricting. Governor Bill Lee signed a new map that split Memphis into three Republican-leaning districts, diluting Black Democratic voting power and turning a safe Democratic seat into a GOP stronghold. This led to Representative Steve Cohen’s retirement and a fierce Democratic primary between Justin J. Pearson and London Lamar. Legal challenges failed to stop the map, so local activists and national Democrats shifted to grassroots mobilization, while the broader fight for fair representation moved to state courts and calls for federal reform intensified.