NASHVILLE, TN — State Sen. Charlane Oliver received a letter from Lt. Gov. Randy McNally outlining disciplinary actions related to her protest against Tennessee's congressional redistricting maps. The penalties include the reassignment of her committee seat, restrictions on her per diem, and the loss of travel reimbursements.

Oliver said the measures were retaliation for her May 7 demonstration, during which she stood on her Senate desk to protest new congressional maps. "Yesterday afternoon, I received a letter from Lt. Governor Randy McNally outlining punitive measures against me for standing up — quite literally — for the people of Tennessee," she said. She argued that Tennessee Republicans "made the unprecedented decision to break state law and rig congressional maps to silence Black voters in Memphis," calling the redistricting effort "the most brazen attack on Black political representation this nation has seen since Jim Crow."

Oliver rejected the notion that her actions violated Senate decorum. "The actions I took on May 7th were not a violation of decorum. They were a direct response to a majority party that has systematically stripped Black communities of fair representation through gerrymandered, racially discriminatory redistricting maps," she said.

She added that the disciplinary penalties would not deter her. "Reassigning my committee seat, restricting my per diem, and cutting off my travel reimbursements will not change the facts: the redistricting of our congressional districts was wrong, it was calculated, it was vindictive, and it will have consequences for every Tennessean who believes in a government that truly represents the people," she said. "This fight is far from over," she added.