Senator Calls on Tennessee to Create ‘All-GOP Map’ After Supreme Court Ruling

A Republican gubernatorial candidate and current U.S. senator from Tennessee called on lawmakers to change the state’s congressional map in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision that reversed a section of the Voting Rights Act that was used to create race-based districts.

In a post on X on April 29, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), now running for governor, suggested that state officials move to create a map that entirely favors Republican House members.

“I urge our state Legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis. It’s essential to cement @realDonaldTrump’s agenda and the Golden Age of America,” she wrote on X, including a proposed version of an all-GOP state map.

She added that she has “vowed to keep Tennessee a red state, and as Governor, I’ll do everything I can to make this map a reality.”

Tennessee currently has one Democratic congressman, Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents an area around Memphis and who has been in office since 2007. Every other House lawmaker in the state is a Republican, both U.S. senators are members of the GOP, and the state has a Republican governor.

During the 2024 election, President Donald Trump won Tennessee over Democratic opponent Kamala Harris by a nearly 30-point margin.

Other Republicans have commented on the Supreme Court decision. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) called on the Republican-controlled Alabama state Legislature to move quickly on redrawing state lines.

“LET’S GO!” Tuberville wrote on X, including an opinion article he wrote on Tuesday that urged state officials to file a motion to try to reverse a court decision that blocked the state from creating a new map until 2030.

He added, “Our own state of Alabama—which voted for Trump by 65 percent in 2024—by all rights should send an entire Republican delegation to Washington.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told The Hill publication that Wednesday’s landmark court order “will certainly apply to Missouri.”

“If it affects our current map, I don’t know,” he said. “We need to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. I imagine our attorney general will weigh in on this.”

In the majority opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, he wrote that “the Constitution almost never permits the Federal Government or a State to discriminate on the basis of race” and that Louisiana could not justify creating a congressional district based on race.

Alito further wrote that “allowing race to play any part in government decision making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context.” He said Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a Civil Rights-era law that went into effect in 1965, is effectively limited to addressing instances of intentional discrimination, a very high standard.

Democratic lawmakers and officials criticized the ruling and said it would dilute the voting power of minority groups in the United States.

The chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), said in a statement that the decision serves as an attack “against the fundamental right of every American citizen to vote” and “upends generations of hard-fought progress in which our country has strived to guarantee equal voice and representation to all its citizens, regardless of the color of their skin.”

Despite the ruling, DelBene said she believes Democrats are still “poised to retake” the House of Representatives during the 2026 midterm elections, held in November.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.