Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) vowed legal action Thursday after Tennessee passed a new House map that carves up his majority-Black congressional district in an effort to flip his seat red in November.
Cohen, the lone Democrat in Tennessee’s nine-member House delegation, called the new map “shameful” and criticized Republicans for heeding President Trump’s call to pursue mid-decade redistricting ahead of the midterm elections.
“And just like that, the TN GOP voted to enforce a racial gerrymander of Memphis and strip our city of effective representation for decades,” Cohen wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“Trump knows he HAS TO rig the game to keep his majority in November. And the TN GOP was willing to go along with it. It’s shameful,” he continued. “Next stop is the courts.”
The new map splits Cohen’s Memphis-based 9th Congressional District — the state’s only majority-Black congressional district — into three districts and further divides Nashville into five.
The Tennessee House and Senate approved the new map earlier Thursday after first voting to repeal the state’s 56-year prohibition on mid-decade redistricting, a necessary step before lawmakers could move forward with the proposal.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed into law the new map and other related bills later Thursday.
The governor called this week’s special session after Trump renewed his push for Republican-led states to move forward with mid-decade redistricting ahead of November’s midterms.
The effort came after the Supreme Court last week declared Louisiana’s congressional map an illegal gerrymander and ordered the state to redraw its lines, putting at least one of Louisiana’s two Democratic seats in jeopardy.
State lawmakers convened in a special session Tuesday and held committee hearings to consider the maps and related legislation.
Cohen testified before a House and Senate committee Wednesday, seeking to convince state lawmakers that having a Democratic congressman has benefited Tennessee. He pointed to federal funding he secured during the Biden administration for the bridge over the Mississippi River. The Tennessee Democrat also emphasized his longstanding ties to the district and his commitment to his constituents.
“We’re giving up the values of the state of Tennessee and the power of the state of Tennessee for one man who is president of the United States for two more years and maybe a little bit for the governor, who’s going to be governor for a little less than a year,” Cohen said in his testimony.
“They’re going to get something out of this,” the Democrat continued, referring to Trump and Lee. “The people of Tennessee will lose. This is a loser for the people of Tennessee.”
Already on Thursday, at least one Republican announced he would run for Cohen’s seat, which the Democrat has held since 2007.
State Sen. Brent Taylor (R) said he’s running to represent the 9th Congressional District “to stand with @realdonaldtrump and cement Tennessee’s conservative legacy for generations to come.”
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