This article is from our four-part cover package on the state legislature's special session on redistricting. See the rest here.
While the state’s Republican supermajority worked quickly to draw a new congressional district map at the behest of Donald Trump, Democrats worked quickly on a legal strategy to fight back.
“We worked hand in hand,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Rachel Campbell tells the Scene. “And we stood strong and firm with our caucus as they were there on the state legislative floor, in the committee meetings, trying to get things on the record that we needed to make sure that we understood from the Republican Party — so that when we took this to the court, we could have their words and make sure that we were clear on what their plans were and why they did what they did.”
Since the state is controlled by a Republican supermajority, preparing for a legal battle going into this month’s special session was really the only option Democrats had.
“That means one party runs roughshod over the other party, and the truth of the matter is that you know politics benefits from competition,” says John Geer, Vanderbilt University distinguished professor of political science and co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll. “All the other redistricting spurred by Donald Trump’s efforts to redraw the Texas district is leading to a lot less competitive districts, and that’s bad for the country. We need more competition, not less.”
Geer says the swiftness of the special session — which happened in the midst of the congressional election process — is a central part of the problem.
“I think it undermined small ‘d’ democracy to do this so late in the game,” Geer says. “I’ll let the lawyers and legal experts argue about the merits of the particular decision, but having this decision issued so late by the Supreme Court, and then the quick reaction by the state legislature, really does change the game midstream.”
While the Tennessee Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against the maps in the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee, three other lawsuits have also been filed challenging different issues around the new redistricting laws. Those efforts are all moving swiftly through their court processes, with hearings happening and rulings in process. (After the print version of this article went to press, a three-judge panel ruled against the NAACP in one of the suits challenging redistricting.)
Three judges sided with the state as new congressional maps take hold in Tennessee
“I just think it’s important to have different people in different groups advocating for different parts of this egregious, egregious decision that was made,” Campbell says.
“We’re going to follow this fight all the way till the end. We are not going to stop trying to show that these maps are racist, that these maps are wrong, and that they should not be enforced. Full stop.”
This isn’t the first time Tennessee Democrats have had to take to the courts to wage their fight.
“We, along with other plaintiffs, sued … back in 2022 [when Nashville state House and Senate seats were redistricted], and we won,” Campbell says. “It went on appeal, and then [the state] won. So this is not the first time that we’ve opposed redistricting, and this is certainly not the first time that we … have opposed the policies of the Republican Party.”
Because the U.S. Constitution gives power to states to draw their districts, legislators aren’t likely to give up that control, Geer tells the Scene. But decentralizing that power is a way to fix the flaws of the political system.
“It’d be much better to have some sort of bipartisan commission or some sort of independent commission that would draw the districts, but that’s a very hard sell,” Geer says. “But finding a way to draw districts in a fair, more reasonable way that fosters competition [is one solution.]”
Another solution, according to Geer? Increased public opposition to redistricting. In April, Virginia saw a very close vote over a ballot measure on redistricting.
“This fight belongs to all of us, not just Tennessee,” Campbell says. “It belongs to this entire country, because if they can do it here, and they can do it in South Carolina, and they can do it in Georgia and Mississippi and Alabama and Florida and Texas, they can do it everywhere, and they will. So that’s why it’s important that we take the fight to them now to stop this spreading across the country.”
A four-part look at the fallout from the Republican supermajority’s successful gerrymandering attempts
