NASHVILLE — The Tennessee General Assembly convened an extraordinary session on congressional redistricting as state Democratic Party leaders accused Republican lawmakers of attempting to weaken Black political representation and create voter confusion. Democrats alleged the session, called by Gov. Bill Lee, was aimed at redrawing the state's congressional maps to eliminate Memphis's majority-Black congressional district.

State Democratic leaders planned an 11 a.m. press conference near Beth Harwell Plaza, adjacent to the Cordell Hull Office Building, as lawmakers returned to Nashville. A citizen protest was scheduled for noon at the Capitol to rally against what Democrats called a Republican "power grab." Protesters marched to the Capitol as the session began.

Tennessee Democrats said Lee called the special session not to address affordability, grocery prices, health care access or housing, but instead to erase congressional representation for Memphis, a majority-Black city. U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn called on the Republican-controlled legislature to dismantle Memphis's majority-Black congressional district and replace it with multiple majority-white districts.

Tennessee state law 2-16-102, in place since 1972, states that congressional districts may not be changed between apportionments. Democrats argued the law was designed to limit congressional redistricting to once every decade to reduce confusion for voters and election administrators. During 2022 redistricting litigation, election officials from Shelby, Knox and Wilson counties submitted sworn affidavits warning that changing congressional maps close to an election could burden election officials, create compliance concerns with federal military and overseas voting requirements, and cause voter confusion.

The Tennessee session followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana's congressional map, finding that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district. The ruling altered a decades-old understanding of the Voting Rights Act and gave Republican lawmakers grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.

Eight states had adopted new U.S. congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans projected they could gain as many as 13 seats in five states from the new districts, while Democrats projected they could gain up to 10 seats from new districts in three other states.