Alabama and Tennessee join rush of southern states moving to redraw maps after Supreme Court ruling

CNN·May 1

Alabama and Tennessee join rush of southern states moving to redraw maps after Supreme Court ruling

Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee announced special legislative sessions next week to draw new congressional maps – becoming the latest states to act following the Supreme Court’s further weakening of the Voting Rights Act. “We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters,” Tennesee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement on Friday, just hours after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called upon her state legislature to reconvene to discuss establishing a special primary election for both US House and state Senate districts “whose boundary lines are altered by court action.” The announcements illustrate the extraordinary speed with which some Republican states in the South are moving to seize on the high court’s decision and do away with previously mandated maps designed to give voters of color the opportunity to select candidates of their choosing. Republicans currently hold a paper-thin majority in the House, and both parties have waged a coast-to-coast mid-decade redistricting war for months, seeking to eke out a partisan advantage. But the latest limiting of the Voting Rights Act has set off a scramble to make more changes before November’s midterm elections, particularly in the South, where the legislation

Associated Press·May 4

Alabama and Tennessee seek new congressional districts | AP News

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee have summoned lawmakers into special sessions this week seeking new congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has called legislators back to Montgomery starting Monday to approve contingency plans for special primary elections in hopes that the Supreme Court will allow the state to switch congressional maps ahead of the November midterms. It’s a move that Republicans legislative leaders said would “give our state a fighting chance to send seven Republican members to Congress.” The seven-member delegation currently has two Democrats. In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee also announced a special session starting Tuesday for the GOP-controlled Legislature to break up the state’s one Democratic-held House district, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis. The Supreme Court decision striking down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana said the drawing of the district map relied too much on race. The ruling began reverberating through statehouses across the South as Republicans eyed the possibility of getting new lines in place for the 2026 midterm elections, or at least 2028. 6 MIN READ 4 MIN READ 2 MIN READ President