Memphis helped shape the civil rights movement. Now, residents face a new battle as Republican lawmakers seek to divide the city into Republican-leaning House districts.
Louisiana Citizens Protest SCOTUS Ruling on Congressional Maps
Demonstrators rallied against a Supreme Court ruling that would give state Republicans a chance to redraw congressional maps before November’s midterm elections.
MEMPHIS – Gino Balzizza wore a mixture of disappointment and defiance as he took shelter from the driving rain inside his polling place at Central Christian Church here in the Midtown neighborhood.
When Barzizza voted in Tennessee’s local primary on May 5, the state’s Republican-controlled legislature was preparing to redraw the House district he calls home.
his 9th The congressional district includes most of Memphis, one of the nation’s largest majority-black cities and the state’s only remaining Democratic seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Home to the National Civil Rights Museum, the city played an important role in the civil rights movement. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.
The Tennessee General Assembly’s move follows an April 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that threw out a congressional map drawn by Louisiana to protect the voting rights of Black residents. The court’s 6-3 decision sided with the Trump administration and non-Black voters who had challenged the maps as relying too heavily on race to classify voters.
“It feels like they’re playing dirty, and we expect that, so that makes sense,” Barzizza said of Republican efforts to redraw district lines.
Other Republican-led Southern states are making similar moves in response to court rulings on the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act that will allow Republicans to maintain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Just hours after the court’s ruling, the Florida Legislature approved a new map that would give Republicans four more House seats in the state. The next day, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry issued an executive order postponing the state’s House primary and requiring the state Legislature to draw a new congressional map. On May 1, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey called for a special legislative session to review the state’s congressional district maps.
“We owe it to the people of Tennessee to ensure that Tennessee’s electoral districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee’s voters,” Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said on the same day, adding that the state Legislature has a “responsibility to review the maps and ensure they are fair, legal and defensible.”
President Donald Trump predicted that Republicans could pick up more than 20 House seats in the Nov. 3 midterm elections and called on more states to follow suit.
On May 3, President Trump posted on Truth Social: “We should demand that state legislatures do what the Supreme Court says they should do.” “That’s more important than administrative convenience.”
The next day, Dr. King’s son, Martin Luther King III, wrote a letter to Republican leaders in Tennessee, pleading with them not to undo his father’s legacy.
“A session created for the sole purpose of dissolving the 9th Congressional District is not normal and is not fair,” King wrote. “The resulting disenfranchisement of Black voters would go against everything my father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., fought for.”
Memphis in the Civil Rights Movement
Since the 1860s, Memphis has been the epicenter of the struggle for voting rights for African Americans and the broader civil rights movement, said Charles McKinney, a history professor at Rhodes College in Memphis.
For example, Dr. King traveled to Memphis in 1968 to support the sanitation workers’ strike. That same year, Dr. King delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech here. It happened the night before he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
Memphis is also home to the historic Beale Street Baptist Church, built by freed slaves after the Civil War. The church also housed a newspaper that published some of Ida B. Wells’ anti-lynching research in the late 19th century. McKinney said that history has helped Memphis serve as a visionary for African Americans across the country.
Meanwhile, Memphis has long been the nation’s second-largest majority-black city, trailing Detroit for decades, sometimes by a fine line.
“This is a growing legacy of gains and losses,” McKinney said. “And we find ourselves, once again, in this moment of profound setback, this moment of profound loss, literally this moment, within the forces of racism, the forces of white supremacy, and the forces of anti-Blackness in a way that takes us back more than 50 years.”
The difference now, McKinney said, is that voting rights advocates are on the defensive rather than on the offensive to secure stronger protections for Black communities. And the stakes couldn’t be higher, he said.
“It’s a four-alarm fire here in Memphis, and it’s the same in other states,” McKinney said.
“Dividing” House Districts
Brooke Shannon, a political science professor at the University of Memphis, said proponents of redrawing Memphis-area congressional districts are considering a strategy called “cracking,” which divides communities dominated by one party and weakens their voting power. He said the same strategy was used when Republicans split Nashville into three districts in 2022.
“The point behind this is to keep Democratic voters from getting representation in Congress because they will be in the minority,” Shannon said.
Jonathan Servas, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said the Republican strategy could backfire.
“The term is ‘dummy mandering,'” said Servas, who specializes in redistricting. “Democrats may not win one district, but multiple districts.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called on the state to “relocate another Republican seat in Memphis.”
“It is imperative that we solidify @realDonaldTrump’s policies and America’s Golden Age,” the Republican senator wrote in a post about X last week.
Tennessee Republican leaders this week dodged questions about whether black voting power could be diluted.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) told The Tennessean on May 4, “The governor has asked us to come to a special session to consider it, and we will do that.”
House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said Tennessee’s redistricting process will undergo a “comprehensive review with all necessary reforms.”
Not all Republicans are on board with the plan, which would draw new district boundaries ahead of the state’s August primary.
“I don’t think the people in my district think that’s a good use of their tax dollars,” state Sen. Paul Bailey (R-Sparta) said last week about calling a special legislative session just for redistricting, especially right after the adjournment.
By 9 a.m. on May 5, protesters had lined up on the sidewalk near the state Capitol in Nashville, holding signs that read “No to Jim Crow 2.0” and “Lee Sold Out Tennessee.” Some people were outraged that the state Legislature adopted a set of rules in a special session, including a ban on protesters it deemed disruptive.
“They should be ashamed of this obviously racist act they are about to commit!” Odessa Kelly, executive director of Stand Up Nashville and former Democratic House candidate, shouted as she left the committee room. “But we’re going to come out there anyway and make our voices heard.”
A crowd streamed outside to join the Democratic caucus on the steps of the Capitol, chanting “Whose state is this? Our state!”
U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (Democratic Party)th He, who has held Memphis’ House seat since 2007, said the redistricting effort “takes us back to the Jim Crow era” and “counters everything we did in the ’60s to give African-Americans the opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.”
“We’re not going to back down.”
Located in Midtown Memphis, Tennessee’s 9th Districtth Voters in the House district weren’t surprised by the redistricting efforts, but they also expressed optimism.
“I think we can win,” Sam Flanagan said. “I think Democrats have an opportunity to talk to all the people that are going to be in this ridiculous district that we’re going to be in. And I think we have an opportunity to actually start talking to people who would normally be MAGA, but maybe feel like, ‘Hey, Nashville doesn’t understand who we are anymore.’
Flanagan added, “It’s time for Democrats to go on the offensive on this. If Democrats do strong in this new district, the state will be surprised.”
Vanessa Rodley, noting the Republican supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly, called the Republican effort “predictable.” He also noted that in past elections, many Republican state legislators ran unopposed.
“But at the same time, we the people have some power,” she said. “If we get really upset about this and actually show up, we could actually affect some change.”
Ragina Mitchell Scott, who is running for Shelby County Commission District 13, said she expects a legal battle if the congressional districts are redrawn. As she greeted the steady stream of voters heading to the polls at Central Christian Church, she noticed increased interest among local voters.
“Let me be clear: We are not retreating,” she said. “We’re going to fight.”
Yancey Bragg and Redmon write for USA TODAY. Wilt reports for The Commercial Appeal, part of the USA TODAY Network in Memphis.
Contributors: John Beifuss, Chris Day, and Brooke Muckerman of The Commercial Appeal. Joey Garrison of USA TODAY. and Vivian Jones of the Tennessean in Nashville.
