Tipsheet

Scott Jennings Schools Dem Strategist on GOP Redistricting

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  May 13, 2026 7:30 AM

In their anger over Republican redistricting efforts in Tennessee and elsewhere, Democrats have made an admission that some of us knew all along: they do not consider Black Republicans adequate "Black representation," with CNN saying it was still "racist" that Tennessee would have Charlotte Bergmann, a Black Republican, replacing an old White man and Democrat Steve Cohen.

Which is why this exchange between Scott Jennings and Ashley Allison, a Democratic strategist and former Obama and Biden staffer is interesting and revealing.

"You literally are taking Memphis, which is a city with Black voters, and you split into three, stretching 3,000 miles," Allison said.

"Who's the current Democrat Congressman ... is it a Black Congressman?" Jennings asked.

"Just because Black people are allowed to like people that don't look like them," Allison replied. And that's when Jennings pounced.

"Exactly. And that is the point I wanted you to make," Jennings said. "Just because you're not going to have a Black Congressman, why is it that a Republican can't do just as well representing Black voters as a Democrat? Why should your race determine your politics?"

"It doesn't. It doesn't. No," said Allison. "You're making my point, actually. The assumption is Black people will only elect people. Black people are smart enough to elect ... Black people will elect who will actually represent them, who have their best interest at heart. And what Republicans have done in Tennessee is dismantle the power for Black people to have their voice. It is the same thing in Texas because they said they thought Latinos were going to swing for Republicans. There are Black ... I'm Black and I got a Republican President right now. Black people don't elect black people based on race. They elect people that are aligned with their morals, their belief in justice and Republicans just took that away from them in Tennessee and in other states."

"I just disagree that the only person the only kind of person who can represent Black people in Congress must be a Democrat," Jennings said. "This is just an artificial floor for the Democratic Party. Black voters are still fully franchised and go vote for whoever they want. It just doesn't have to be a Democrat."

"That's not what I'm saying," Allison interjected.

But it is. Because Democrats will say that redistricting is stripping them of Black representation in Congress, then turn around and say the election of a Black Republican like Charlotte Bergmann or that Tim Scott has been the Black Republican Senator from South Carolina for more than a decade isn't, somehow, representation.

What they mean is "Black voters can only, should only, vote for Democrats."

Going back to the Lyndon Johnson administration, the Democratic Party set off the ideological equivalent of a nuclear bomb in the Black community. Poverty, violence, single-parent households are now the norm and those are things that the Democratic Party's platform encourages and rewards.

Exactly. The state of Tennessee is about 440 miles long from east to west.

It was a good debate.

Seriously. It happens every single time.

That would have been an excellent question to ask, because we all know the answer: it's (D)ifferent.