President Trump announced a proposal on Thursday for congressional redistricting in Tennessee. In a Truth Social post, Trump shared his communications with Governor Bill Lee regarding a plan that could potentially give Republicans an extra seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and indicated the plan had the support of state legislators.
“I had a very good conversation with Governor Bill Lee, of Tennessee, this morning, wherein he stated that he would work hard to correct the unconstitutional flaw in the Congressional Maps of the Great State of Tennessee,” President Trump said. “Likewise, all of the other Political Representatives of Tennessee have promised to do so.”
The president noted that the extra seat could be crucial in the midterm elections, as Republicans fight to hold on to their slim congressional majority. “This should give us one extra seat, and help Save our Country from the Radical Left Democrats, and their Country destroying Policies of High Tax, Open Borders, Transgender Mutilization, Defunding the Police, ICE, and Border Patrol, No Voter ID, Soft on Crime, and so much more,” President Trump said.
Tennessee could become the latest battleground in the effort to redraw congressional maps across the country. Texas, California and Virginia have fought to create additional seats along partisan lines in an attempt to gain control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterm elections. The announcement from President Trump comes one day after a landmark Supreme Court ruling that significantly narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), a decision that will likely reduce the effectiveness of challenges to state redistricting efforts on the basis of racial discrimination.
On Wednesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called for a special legislative session to redraw the Tennessee map, likely adding an extra seat for a Republican Representative.
“I urge our state legislature to reconvene to redistrict another Republican seat in Memphis,” Blackburn said. “It’s essential to cement @realDonaldTrump’s agenda and the Golden Age of America.”
Blackburn, a long-time ally of President Trump, is a current candidate in the Tennessee gubernatorial race to replace Gov. Bill Lee at the end of his term. She will face five Republican candidates in the state’s August primary before the general election in November.
