How Memphis voters feel now after Tennessee split up its majority-Black district

For years, Quinn Carger and his mother voted in the same congressional district: Tennessee's 9th, represented for roughly two decades by Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen.

But when Tennessee voters go to the polls for primary elections Thursday, Carger will no longer receive the same ballot as his mother, who lives just a seven-minute drive away. They have been separated into two of the three redrawn districts that now represent parts of Memphis.

Several Memphis voters told PBS News they're frustrated with what they felt was a bald move back in May by the Republican-controlled Legislature to eliminate Tennessee's only Democratic representative in Congress and dilute the will of the majority-Black city.

"From a strategic standpoint, it is a great power play by the Republicans here in this state to ensure that Black voices are minimized," Carger said.

At President Donald Trump's urging, Republicans in multiple states have redrawn House maps ahead of the November midterms elections in hopes of maintaining control of Congress, part of a nationwide redistricting battle waged by both parties.

Live Results: Tennessee midterm primaries

Tennessee Republicans split up the 9th Congressional District days after the Supreme Court's conservative majority decided to strike down a majority-Black district in Louisiana. In doing so, the high court weakened the Voting Rights Act, a landmark Civil Rights-era law that sought to increase minority representation in Congress.

As a result of the redistricting, Cohen, who is white, decided not to run for reelection.

The new district expands far past Memphis city limits, nearly all the way to Nashville three and a half hours away. Campaigning across the boundary would be difficult for him because of a physical disability he developed from childhood polio, he told PBS News. He also felt he couldn't represent the new district "the way it should be" by giving preference to areas that aren't Memphis.

"What frustrates the average voter about the redistricting is not simply that you had your district cracked, or that you had your vote power diluted," said the Rev. Earle Fisher, senior pastor at Memphis' Abyssinian Baptist Church. "It's that you know that in the process of doing this, the will of the majority of the people in your area is not going to be honored."

The other frustration, he said, is "that the person who — according to how they did their (redistricting) calculations — is most likely to end up representing you really doesn't give a damn about you."

What does representation mean now to Tennesseans?

Above: The map of Tennessee's U.S. House districts before the state Legislature redrew boundaries. Below: The current map splits Shelby County in the southwestern part of the state into three voting districts that all lean Republican, which many Memphians feel will dilute their votes. Maps courtesy of the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury

In redrawing the state's congressional map, the state Legislature changed the boundaries of seven of Tennessee's nine districts, leaving only the easternmost part of the state untouched.

The 9th District used to include the western parts of two counties: Shelby, the southwestern-most county in Tennessee, bordering Arkansas and Mississippi and home to Memphis, and the smaller Tipton County to its north. To its east, the 8th District, represented by Republican Rep. David Kustoff, covered more rural areas of the state.

Now, the 9th stretches across the southern border of the state, including 15 counties and stopping just south of Davidson County, home to Nashville — a little over three hours away from Memphis by car.

Tennessee's 5th and 8th districts also creep into Shelby County now, with the 5th looping up the western border of the state along the Mississippi River, making a sharp turn along the northern border, and diving back down into the center of the state.

The result? A geographically wide and demographically disparate population that would be represented by three congressional seats and likely lean Republican.

Demonstrators gather for the House committee meeting at the Cordell Hull building to protest efforts by the state's Republican leadership in redistricting congressional election maps on the second day of special session in Nashville, Tenn., May 6, 2026. Photo by Seth Herald/ Reuters

Going into Thursday's primary, Fisher, who is also the founder of UpTheVote901, an organization dedicated to increasing voter turnout in Memphis and Shelby County, said the standard for considering candidates shouldn't be whether one person can represent everybody.

"It is: Can you represent the will of the majority of the people in your district? And can you honor the dignity and the humanity of the people who you can't represent?"

Fisher believes state Rep. Justin Pearson, a 31-year-old Democratic candidate running for 9th District, can do that. Pearson rose to prominence in Memphis for his opposition to a proposed oil pipeline. After being elected to the state's House of Representatives in 2023, he and two fellow lawmakers gained national attention for protesting the Legislature's inaction on gun legislation.

WATCH: Tennessee Democrats lock arms in protest as GOP lawmakers approve new congressional map

For Carger, the issues Memphis faces as a city aren't the same as those in the much smaller, more rural counties.

That's why he's backing Chaz Molder, mayor of Columbia, Tennessee, as the Democratic candidate in the redrawn 5th District to run against the Republican nominee in the general election.

Carger thinks Molder "can pull together enough votes from rural counties that he'll be able to actually hold a Democratic seat, which is ultimately the most important thing for the city of Memphis and for the state of Tennessee."

How race and politics are intertwined

A sign lies on the floor of the Senate committee room on the day people gathered to protest against efforts by the Republican leadership in redistricting congressional election maps, during a special session of the Senate State and Local Government Committee at the Cordell Hull building in Nashville, Tenn., May 6, 2026. Photo by Seth Herald/ Reuters

When it became clear that the Tennessee Legislature would try to redraw the maps after the Supreme Court ruling, Neise Green traveled to Nashville with a group of activists who joined Pearson to protest at the statehouse.

"I wanted to get involved because this is America's 250th. And I'm so proud to be an American, and the accomplishments that we've made, and it seemed like with the redistricting, they're just taking us back," the 64-year-old said.

"Memphis is, historically, a city that represents the African American struggle," said Carger, who was raised in the Memphis neighborhood of Orange Mound, the nation's first subdivision planned specifically for Black residents. He sees redistricting as lawmakers choosing their voters instead of the other way around.

Nearly two-thirds of Memphis residents are Black, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The demographics represented under the old 9th District map, which included Memphis, were similar, with about 60% of the residents being Black, while 23% were white, according to the nonprofit Census Reporter.

Now, 58% of residents in the new district are white and 32% Black, according to Cook Political Report analysis of census data.

Fisher said it's hard to untangle Memphis' demographics from party support. Because Black neighborhoods and cities tend to vote Democratic, breaking up Memphis' congressional district will "diminish Black political power" — the reason he sees behind the redistricting.

"That was the rhetorical sleight of hand that the GOP in Tennessee were using," he said.

The new congressional map of Tennessee is reflected in a frame during a Senate committee at the Cordell Hull building as Republican leadership leads efforts in redistricting congressional election maps on the second day of the special session in Nashville, Tenn., May 6, 2026. Photo by Seth Herald/ Reuters

Republicans say the new districts better represent the people of Tennessee, and argue the map counteracts ones drawn by Democrats in blue states.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said in a social media post that the recent Supreme Court decision allows states to redraw based on partisan politics, including an image of an all-red Tennessee. And state Sen. John Stevens, who sponsored the map, said the districts "maximize partisan advantage," according to Tennessee Lookout.

The state Legislature had already broken up a major Democratic city's voting district. In 2022, the state redrew its map after the 2020 census to split Nashville, which had previously been predominantly within the state's 5th District. After the redraw, metro Nashville was split into three districts, ultimately eliminating a safe Democratic seat in Congress.

But Memphis' district had been insulated from gerrymandering by virtue of its majority-minority population under Voting Rights Act protections.

WATCH: How the Supreme Court's Louisiana districting decision weakens the Voting Rights Act

For Cohen, who has represented the 9th District since 2007, race and politics can't be decoupled. The state Legislature has "shown an aversion to Memphis" for decades, he said, recalling members joking about giving away the city to Arkansas or Mississippi.

"So many of those rural Republican legislators have no regard for Memphis as a Black city," he said.

Concerns over Memphis losing funding, resources

Midtown Memphis resident Joseph Maloney worries that, with such geographically diverse districts, federal money may end up going to the suburbs and rural areas that representatives see as "their actual base."

"Is the money and the funding coming into this area going to be weighted more towards the concerns of the suburbs and the outlying rural communities?" they said.

Maloney worries a loss of federal funding for Memphis institutions could result in cuts or debt.

Carger also wants to make sure that whoever is elected is able to "bring resources back to the city." He worries that a Republican won't push for the federal resources Memphis needs.

Green, who was spurred to activism by the GOP redistricting effort, is hopeful that Democrats can retain the seat in the 9th District. She was initially disappointed when Cohen said he wouldn't run again.

"He's done a lot of great things for the city, and I was really upset when they pushed him out," she said.

Though she worries that a Republican may not listen to the concerns of the Black community in Memphis, she acknowledges the possibility that the new maps might be permanent.

"It's just something that you have to live with and adjust to and work around," she said. "You find a way to keep going. You find a way to keep fighting."