Overview
- Tennessee lawmakers, who plan a Thursday vote, advanced bills to repeal the state’s ban on mid‑decade redistricting and reopen candidate filing so they can enact a new U.S. House map before the August 6 primary.
- The proposal would dismantle Memphis’s majority‑Black 9th District by slicing Shelby County into three Republican‑leaning seats, a move Democrats and civil‑rights advocates call Black vote dilution.
- The push follows the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, which said Louisiana relied too much on race when drawing a second Black‑majority district and raised the bar for using Section 2 to require majority‑minority seats.
- Election calendars are already shifting as Louisiana delayed its U.S. House primary, Alabama passed a House bill to allow new primaries that could void May 19 results if courts permit new lines, and South Carolina leaders moved to enable a mid‑year redraw.
- Trump’s pressure campaign gained force after Tuesday’s Indiana primaries, where at least five GOP state senators who opposed his redistricting push lost to well‑funded challengers backed by the president and allied groups.