Tennessee approves new map for most recent regulatory conference | US midterm elections 2026 News

Republicans have issued a new map early after the US Supreme Court weakened restrictions on Voting Rights.

Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature and governor have approved a new congressional map ahead of the US midterms, drawing the state’s only black district.

The approval on Thursday reached its latest high countries across the country redistricting in the middle of the US in November, which will determine which party controls the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Although redistricting occurs after the US census every decade, several state legislatures have sought to redraw their congressional maps mid-decade to create more districts that favor their parties.

The dispute began when US President Donald Trump called on the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas to redraw its map to create five more districts favored by Republicans in the US House. Republican- and Democratic-controlled state legislatures in Missouri, California, Utah, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas have followed suit.

The campaign began when the US Supreme Court ruled last week that a to give The landmark 1973 Voting Rights Act, which prohibited limiting the voting rights of minorities, was unconstitutional.

Under the ruling, prosecutors must prove that the map was drawn to intentionally block voters, a place that voting rights groups charge is impossible to remove.

The new Tennessee map divides the only Democrat-held House district, which is in the predominantly Black city of Memphis. Black voters in the US have historically leaned heavily toward the Democratic Party.

Opponents said the new map was deliberately designed to ensure that Black voting power was eliminated in nine Tennessee counties.

“This map is a racist tool of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful president in the United States of America, Donald J Trump,” state representative Justin Pearson, a Democrat, said.

The protestors held placards condemning the redistricting of the “Jim Crow” effort, referring to the segregation laws that mandated segregation in many southern states and cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton maintained the new districts were based on demographics and politics, not racial ones.

Republican state Sen. John Stevens says state legislators across the country draw congressional maps to benefit their parties, a process known as gerrymandering.

“This bill represents Tennessee’s attempt to expand our shared access,” he said.

It is unclear whether many states will redraw their congressional maps before the midterm elections.

Louisiana has suspended its House primaries in response to a Supreme Court ruling as it seeks to repeal the ban. Alabama also wants to redraw its map before the November election.

Republicans have so far won more seats than Democrats in redistricting.

This is expected to make the battle for control of the US House of Representatives tough, although poll watchers still assess that most of the 435 US House districts across the country are leaning Democratic, meaning an uphill battle for Republicans.