Anger mounts after Tennessee Republicans redraw maps – US politics live

Anger mounts after Tennessee Republicans redraw maps to erase last Democratic, Black-majority district Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics . Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district as GOP lawmakers scramble to improve their fortunes ahead of the November midterms. The new map splits Shelby County, the home of Memphis, a majority-Black city that played a critical role in the civil rights movement, into three separate Republican-leaning districts. The majority-Black district being eliminated in the Memphis area has long been represented by Rep. Steve Cohen, the state’s lone Democratic congressional representative. All nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts are now Republican-leaning. Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton claimed that the new districts were drawn based on population and politics, not racial data. Protest against redistricting efforts in Tennessee Demonstrators protest inside the Tennessee state Capitol on 7 May 2026. Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters But Democrats dismissed these claims and have argued that dividing up Memphis effectively deprives the Black community of representation in Congress. “These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacist in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump,” said state Rep. …