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A resolution denouncing the Tennessee General Assembly for enacting a redistricting plan that divides and dilutes congressional representation of residents of Memphis and Shelby County.
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WHEREAS, the Tennessee General Assembly rushed into special session on May 5 through 7, 2026, to approve new Congressional districts after purporting that a United States Supreme Court decision allowed them to draw these boundaries without accounting for race; and
WHEREAS, days after this court ruling, the Tennessee General Assembly returned to Nashville and quickly approved new congressional districts with minimal public input splitting Memphis and Shelby County into three separate congressional districts. Memphis has largely been represented by a single member of Congress for decades and was a part of the only predominately Black district in the state of Tennessee; and
WHEREAS, these new districts are carved across the state of Tennessee, diluting the voices of Memphis residents, a majority Black city, among predominantly white suburban and rural voters as far as 300 miles away and limiting their power to elect a representative of their choice; and
WHEREAS, residents of Nashville and Davidson County are all too familiar with this type of gerrymandering, as the Tennessee General Assembly cracked Davidson County into three districts in 2022; and
WHEREAS, the state lawmakers’ new redistricting plan does not spare Davidson County in its efforts to gerrymander. Davidson County continues to be divided into three congressional districts, which dilutes the voting influence and political voice of Nashville’s minority voters; and
WHEREAS, this redistricting plan is a gross overreach by the state and effectively eliminates the ability of Davidson County and Shelby County voters-particularly minority voters-to be represented effectively in the U.S. House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, the speed and approach taken by the Tennessee General Assembly to diminish the voting power of another of the state’s largest cities shows a disregard for a representative democracy; and
WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper for the Metropolitan Council to stand with the people of Memphis and Shelby County in rejecting this rushed effort to redraw congressional maps and effectively remove the people of Nashville and Memphis to elect representatives of their choice.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as denouncing the Tennessee General Assembly for enacting a redistricting plan that divides and dilutes congressional representation in Memphis and Shelby County.
Section 2. That this resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.