Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Thursday signed into law new congressional district maps passed during a special session of the Republican-led Tennessee General Assembly. The redrawn map splits Memphis into three districts and will take effect for the August 2026 primary.

The special session to redraw the state's congressional map followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a provision of the Voting Rights Act that had required the state to maintain at least one majority-Black district. The legislature also changed a state law that had required new congressional district boundaries to be drawn only after each federal census.

Under the new lines, districts that include portions of Memphis stretch into rural areas, and in two cases extend to the outskirts of Nashville. Some neighbors living on the same street have been placed in different congressional districts.

Republicans said the goal of the redistricting effort was to make all nine of Tennessee's congressional seats held by Republicans. District 9, currently the only congressional seat in Tennessee held by a Democrat, is represented by Congressman Steve Cohen.

Jason Zachary, a Republican representative from Knoxville, and William Lamberth, a Republican representative from Portland, served on the Congressional Redistricting Committee that developed the new map. Detailed maps of the new boundaries are available online, and Tennesseans can look up their congressional district by address on the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury's website.

Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children, created an interactive map that also allows Tennesseans to look up their congressional district by address. A website called Defend TN 9 was also created to track developments related to the district.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit to challenge the new congressional maps. Additional lawsuits have been anticipated. The NAACP lawsuit is among the first legal challenges to the redistricting plan since Lee signed the maps into law.