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Tennessee Redistricting Effort Advances in the Legislature As Chaos and Protests Engulf the Capitol

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  May 07, 2026 2:15 PM

The Tennessee House has passed a newly redistricted Congressional map, which is set to eliminate the single seat Democrats hold in the state. The bill will now advance to the Senate, where the Republcian majority is expected to pass the measure on Friday.

The state is the latest Republican-led state to pursue mid-decade redistricting, in an effort to help preserve the GOP House majority heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

Democrats in the state were outraged as chaos engulfed the legislature before and after the vote, resulting in several people being forcibly removed from the chamber.

This comes shortly after the Supreme Court ruled last month that states can no longer draw congressional districts primarily based on race. Tennessee’s only remaining Democratic district was designed as a majority-Black district and is no longer protected as such under the Court’s ruling. The majority opinion held that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not require race-based districting to ensure minority representation, arguing that such race-based sorting exceeds the statute’s original intent and risks unconstitutional gerrymandering. 

Tennessee’s lone Democratic representative is Rep. Steve Cohen, who is white.