After redistricting, what does representation mean to Tennessee voters?

"From the founding of Memphis more than two centuries ago, Poplar Ave. has served as a spine of the city, connecting urban, suburban and rural Shelby County and contributing to its growth into the hub of the mid-South region. After last week's redistricting push by Tennessee Republicans, the thoroughfare now serves as a boundary line that fractures the majority-Black city's residents into three congressional seats that are likely to be held by Republicans."

"In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision that weakened a part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 relating to racial discrimination, Tennessee is the first of several southern states that have rushed to redraw their congressional maps in ways that they say is purely aimed at electing more Republicans to the House. Several Republicans NPR spoke with argue the new districts, which now stretch from Memphis into the Nashville suburbs, are actually more representative of the state's population than packing Black voters who overwhelmingly support Democrats into a single seat."

""We have people who are upset and angry because the lines as they are drawn do exactly what we have been fighting to do in this country for years and years and years," Maury County GOP Chair Jason Gilliam said. "I mean, it almost sounds to me like they're asking for us to segregate based on race because they don't want to have representation equally across the district.""

""I do not buy this argument that you can look at this politically and not in terms of race," Williamson County Democratic Party Chair Ragan Grossman said. "We are in essence saying, 'Oh, you can't make a district based on race if you're Black, but guess what? You can make a district all""

Poplar Ave. has long connected parts of Shelby County and supported Memphis’s growth. After Tennessee Republicans pushed redistricting, the thoroughfare became a boundary that splits the majority-Black city’s residents into three congressional seats likely to be held by Republicans. The redrawing follows a Supreme Court decision that weakened a Voting Rights Act provision tied to racial discrimination. Tennessee is among southern states that have moved to redraw congressional maps, claiming the changes are intended to elect more Republicans. Republicans argue the new districts better reflect the state’s population and avoid concentrating Black voters who support Democrats. Democrats and voting rights groups filed lawsuits, citing a history of discriminatory voting practices and the link between racial identity and partisan preference.

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