MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) 鈥� For 21 years, Steve Fowler and Sam Wilson have performed together in a band on Memphis鈥� renowned Beale Street. And for the past decade, the men have been neighbors on a quiet, leafy avenue.
But as of Thursday, they will no longer cast the same ballot despite living across the street from each other.
That鈥檚 because Tennessee鈥檚 Republican-controlled legislature , which has long enjoyed its own Democratic-leaning U.S. House seat. Now, the city is , its majority-Black population sliced up and bound to mostly white, rural and conservative communities along lines that branch away from Fowler and Wilson鈥檚 East Memphis neighborhood.
A line runs down the middle of the street, placing Fowler in the 8th Congressional District, which runs hundreds of miles to central Tennessee across a dozen counties. Wilson is zoned for the 9th District, which extends across most of the state鈥檚 southern border before curving up to encompass the largely white and affluent Nashville suburbs.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 horrible,鈥� said Fowler, who is white. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just going to be bad for Black folks in Memphis, but poor whites in these new districts also aren鈥檛 going to get services. How are any of these congressmen going to serve all these different counties?鈥�
Part of a national redistricting competition
The redraw was sparked by that may be of majority-Black Southern communities such as Memphis.
For 60 years, a provision of the landmark required mapmakers to prove they were not discriminating against racial minorities in how they drew districts, often leading to political boundaries that allowed some minority communities to vote for their preferred representative rather than having their vote diluted by white majorities surrounding them.
The rule had the greatest effect in Southern states, where neighboring Black and white communities remain highly polarized in partisan politics.
On April 29, , ruling that the way courts had handled it improperly injected racial matters into redistricting in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Republicans across the South immediately leaped at the chance to redraw their maps before the November elections to eliminate as many Democratic-held, majority-minority congressional seats as possible.
Tennessee鈥檚 legislature was the first in a GOP-controlled state to finalize a new map. But it is one of 鈥� Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina among them 鈥� engaged in a broader partisan redistricting competition sweeping the country.
Republicans have long complained that the Voting Rights Act prevented them from doing to Democratic, majority-Black districts what Democrats in states they control do to conservative-leaning, white and rural areas 鈥� . That is what Tennessee Republicans did in their initial congressional map in 2021 to the state鈥檚 other large reservoir of Democrats in Nashville, where they did not have to step gingerly because that city is majority white.
鈥淭ennessee is a conservative state and our congressional delegation should reflect that,鈥� said Republican state Sen. John Stevens, who shepherded the bill for a new map that made all nine congressional districts solidly Republican.
A 鈥榗entral place鈥� in pursuit of racial justice
Wilson, the Memphis musician who is Black, was less distraught by the carving up of his neighborhood for partisan purposes. He saw the move as just another trial facing the city after sent by President Donald Trump to combat crime and from neighboring suburbs and Republican state lawmakers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a hustling community. We鈥檙e going to make ends meet for our families,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淭he legacy of Memphis is music and our civil rights history,鈥� he said, adding the two were intertwined. 鈥淗ard times mean you鈥檙e going to try and find your gift. That鈥檚 what we do here; music in Memphis is a way of life.鈥�
The Memphis district predates the Voting Rights Act. For at least a century, well before Congress acted to protect minority voting rights, Tennessee has believed it made sense for its metropolis on the Mississippi River to have its own U.S. House district. But since that law was passed in 1965, anyone who tried to split up the district for partisan gain could be sued and have the maps thrown out. Now, legal experts say that is not much of a risk.
Nonetheless, Democrats and civil rights groups are suing to block the map. The symbolism is especially sharp as the city is home to the , built around the motel where in 1968. When the legislature passed the new maps, Democrats and protesters shouted 鈥渉ands off Memphis!鈥� and waved signs accusing Republicans of bringing back Jim Crow.
鈥淢emphis is not just any city; it holds a central place in the national story of our quest for racial justice in this country and how, over time, we have increasingly achieved civil, voting, and economic rights for all Americans,鈥� said Eric Holder, a former U.S. attorney general who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. 鈥淏lack citizens protested, marched and died there for the right to vote.鈥�
Contentious relations with the rest of Tennessee
Memphis has faced dual stories in recent years. and federal dollars have flooded into the area in recent years, but many local businesses still express concerns about a lagging regional economy.
Residents who spoke with The Associated Press expressed concerns about safety and public services but bristled at stereotypes about rampant crime. The twin stories are often on display in the river city, where pothole-filled streets run from empty storefronts to ornate mansion-filled neighborhoods and leafy college campuses only blocks away.
The city has long had a contentious relationship with the rest of the state, which voted for Trump in 2024 by a roughly 2-1 margin.
The conservative legislature in Nashville has clashed repeatedly with Memphis and accused its leaders of broad mismanagement. The legislature passed a law blocking many police overhaul efforts in Memphis that were put in place after the , an unarmed Black man, at the hands of city officers in 2023. It passed another measure and those of other cities across the state, and gave the state attorney general, also a Republican, the power to remove Memphis’ elected district attorney.
鈥淭he state legislature is trying to take it over,鈥� said U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the white Democrat who still represents the city in Congress until the new lines kick in after the midterms. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 absurd. It was all partially because it鈥檚 a majority Black city.鈥�
Black Tennesseans deprived of fair representation, expert says
Thomas Goodman, a politics and law professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, notes that the new congressional districts may lead to greater friction over who receives attention 鈥� and funding 鈥� from lawmakers. Memphis residents will soon share districts with Republican towns with starkly different economies, geographies and demographics. Whoever holds those congressional seats will have an incentive to pay attention to those voters and not to Memphis鈥� population.
鈥淚t would not only deprive Black Tennesseans of proper representation,鈥� Goodman said. 鈥淭hese changes also break up the city of Memphis as an entity into multiple districts, thereby removing a dedicated agent in government who knows the people, who understands their concerns and can speak for them and deliver on behalf of their interests and desires.鈥�
Chris Wiley鈥檚 house sits in what was, before this week, a quiet street in Midtown Memphis dotted with duplexes, tidy lawns and sports fields. Now his neighborhood is carved apart at the intersection of three congressional districts. That is not surprising, he said, because 鈥淭ennessee is all about the dollar鈥� rather than residents.
鈥淢emphis is majority Black, so if you mess with that, what鈥檚 the point of even voting in Tennessee?鈥� said Wiley, a 29-year-old sports stadium worker who is Black. 鈥淲hatever the congressional numbers, whatever that is, we don鈥檛 count on the scale as high, anyway.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and AP videojournalist Sophie Bates contributed to this report.
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