Blackburn pitches 9-0 GOP map for Tennessee after Supreme Court decision
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn wants to redraw Tennessee's congressional map to eliminate the state's only remaining Democratic district.
Why it matters: A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday said legislatures no longer have to consider race when drawing district boundaries. The decision opens the door to splitting up majority-Black districts across the country.
Between the lines: Legislatures across the state have been engaged in a redistricting arms race in advance of the November election when control of Congress is on the line.
Zoom in: Tennessee's District 9, which includes Memphis, has historically been preserved as a Black-majority district based on longstanding interpretation of the Voting Rights Act.
Yes, but: The court's 6-3 ruling in a lawsuit over Louisiana's map could pave the way for Tennessee's district boundaries to change dramatically.
State of play: Tennessee's current House map is drawn to favor Republicans 8-1.
Driving the news: Blackburn, who is running for governor in 2028, seized on the controversial court ruling to box out Democrats altogether.
- "I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It's essential to cement @realDonaldTrump's agenda and the Golden Age of America," she said on X. She also shared a version of possible all-Republican map, which would create a sprawling district that stretched from Memphis into Middle Tennessee.
- Democrats would be sure to vehemently oppose a frantic redistricting effort.
Reality check: The odds of creating a 9-0 Republican map this year are steep at best.
- The qualifying deadline for the August primary has already passed and the field is set for this year's election ballots.
- Any maneuver to change the boundaries in the span of a few months would surely trigger a lawsuit.
Zoom out: Even if it can't be done this year, Blackburn says she's committed to a new map if she is elected governor.
The other side: "Today's ruling makes it harder to challenge unfair maps and practices designed to dilute the voices of communities like ours," state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat, said in a statement. "It hands Republicans across the South the legal cover to redraw districts in ways that will cost Black and Latino Americans seats in Congress, seats in state legislatures and seats at every table where decisions about their lives are made."
Flashback: The state legislature previously sliced up the Nashville-area in 2022, redrawing the reliably blue District 5 and eliminating a Democratic U.S. House seat in Middle Tennessee.
Go deeper: Read about the Supreme Court's opinion in the Louisiana lawsuit.