The congressional redistricting process continues to move forward through the Tennessee General Assembly.
The next stop in the state House is the State Government Committee and the next stop in the state Senate is the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both committees are set to meet Tuesday.
As previously reported, the new proposed new congressional maps were released through their respective state House and Senate committees last week.
The proposed maps will be discussed, a vote will be held, and then the process is expected to be moved forward.
The proposed new maps must be passed by both the State House and Senate before heading to Governor Lee’s desk for his signature. Governor Lee is not expected to object to the legislature’s proposals. Upon Governor Lee’s signature, the new maps would go into effect.
As previously reported, the proposed new congressional district lines are considered controversial by Democrats. The controversy centers around the proposed splitting up of the city of Nashville amongst three congressional districts. Current 5th District Congressman Jim Cooper, along with the many members of the Nashville delegation to the Tennessee Delegation, have blasted the proposals.
The Tennessee Democratic Party is threatening a lawsuit over the proposed new maps, so the possibility of a legal challenge remains.
Republican Lt. Governor McNally (R-Oak Ridge) previously issued a statement via email on the state Senate draft maps for state Senate and U.S. Congress:
I am proud of the work the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Redistricting has done. Despite a compressed timeframe due to the late release of census data, the committee conducted an open and transparent process that solicited and considered input from all Senators and the general public. The recommended maps are fair and legal, disturb no currently serving legislator and preserve, as much as possible, current district composition. Despite challenging and contradictory state and federal mandates, this committee managed to keep both population deviation and county splits to historic lows. An excellent work product to hand off to the Senate Judiciary Committee as this process continues.
The existing 5th District of Tennessee is considered a Democrat stronghold. President Trump failed to achieve 40% of the vote in the 5th District in either of his two presidential campaigns. Current Congressman Jim Cooper was unopposed in 2020 and hasn’t failed to achieve over 62% in an election since the Republican wave midterm elections of 2010, where his opponent achieved 42.1% of the vote. Congressman Jim Cooper is also the brother of current Nashville Mayor, John Cooper.
– – –
Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Tennessee Senate Chamber” by Terrance CC 3.0.
