Tennessee lawmakers pass new slate of House maps, eliminating last Democrat

Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday approved a new slate of congressional maps that eliminated the sole Democratic-leaning district centered on Memphis.

The vote of the state Senate sends the bill to Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tenn., who is expected to sign it into law. The legislation followed a Supreme Court ruling that eliminating race-based districts and narrowed the interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

That decision has triggered a wave of map redraws across the South, including in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Republicans are expected to gain more than one dozen seats from redrawing their maps in this cycle alone.

The Tennessee redraw will only eliminate one Democratic district, but is expected to help give the GOP an edge in the 2026 battle to hold the lower chamber of Congress.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.