Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee have summoned lawmakers into special sessions this week to draw new congressional districts following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling weakening a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, marking the first concrete state action since last week's landmark decision.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called legislators back to Montgomery starting Monday to approve contingency plans for special primary elections, hoping the Supreme Court will allow the state to switch congressional maps ahead of November's midterms.
What the Right Is Saying
Alabama Republican legislative leaders said the contingency plans would "give our state a fighting chance to send seven Republican members to Congress," noting the current seven-member delegation includes two Democrats. Gov. Ivey said, "As I continue saying, Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best."
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced a special session starting Tuesday for the GOP-controlled Legislature to reconfigure the state's 9th Congressional District centered on Memphis. "We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters," Lee said Friday.
President Donald Trump encouraged the redistricting push in a social media post Sunday, saying his party could gain 20 seats in the House. "We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done," Trump wrote. "That is more important than administrative convenience."
What the Left Is Saying
Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock described the court decision and redistricting scramble as an attempt to roll back the Civil Rights Movement. "They said we're going to allow partisan politicians to gerrymander you, so that even when you show up, your voice won't have as much impact because we'll play with the lines," he said Sunday from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. "That isn't a new method. That's an old method. That's a Jim Crow method."
Alabama Democrats sharply criticized the move to change maps before looming elections. Former Sen. Doug Jones, a Democratic candidate for Alabama governor, called it "a blatant power grab by Republican leadership in Montgomery to eliminate seats held by Black Democrats."
Tennessee Democratic State Sen. Ramesh Akbari argued at a news conference outside Memphis's Civil Rights Museum that courts remain the best defense: "We cannot keep doing things like this and calling ourselves a democracy." He noted the state Supreme Court blocked redistricting in 2022 because it was too close to an election.
What the Numbers Show
Federal judges previously ordered Alabama to use a court-selected map with a second district containing a substantial number of Black voters, directing the state to use it through 2030.
Alabama is appealing that decision and hopes the Supreme Court will allow a return to its 2023 state-drawn map. The Louisiana ruling striking down a majority-Black congressional district found the drawing relied too heavily on race.
Florida approved new districts the day of the Supreme Court ruling. Louisiana postponed its May 16 congressional primary and faces lawsuits from Democrats over its redraw plans that could eliminate one or both districts represented by Black lawmakers.
South Carolina's Republican governor suggested his state might also reconsider its congressional map following the ruling.
The Bottom Line
The special sessions in Alabama and Tennessee represent the first concrete legislative responses to last week's Supreme Court decision, which provided Republicans new grounds to challenge existing district maps they view as relying too heavily on race-based considerations. Both states are seeking to have new maps in place before November's midterm elections, though litigation challenges are expected to follow any aggressive redistricting efforts. The timing presents practical obstacles: candidate qualifying periods have already passed in Tennessee with primaries scheduled for August 6.