Tennessee Republicans pass map dividing up state’s lone majority-Black district

Tennessee’s Republican-led Legislature passed a new congressional map dividing up the state’s lone majority-Black district, swiftly responding to the U.S.

Tennessee’s Republican-led Legislature passed a new congressional map dividing up the state’s lone majority-Black district, swiftly responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s major redistricting ruling last week.

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The redrawn district lines, which Gov. Bill Lee signed into law, put Republicans in position to gain a seat in this fall’s midterm elections and secure full control over Tennessee’s congressional delegation.

The new map carves up a Memphis-based seat held by longtime Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., into three districts, spreading the Democratic voters into more rural, Republican districts that stretch hundreds of miles east. It further divides the Nashville metropolitan area, the state’s other Democratic stronghold, into five districts.