Connect with us

Politics

Tennessee Republicans pass new gerrymander following Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling

Published

on

Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature approved a new congressional map Thursday that dismantles the state’s majority-Black district and will likely secure them an all-GOP federal delegation.

The redraw comes as Republican-led Southern states scramble to enact new maps in the wake of last week’s Supreme Court ruling that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and opened the door to states blowing up blue districts drawn to protect the voting power of racial minorities.

The new map aims to draw the state’s lone Democratic congressional representative — Rep. Steve Cohen — out of his Memphis-area seat by splitting up majority-Black Shelby County. It also divides Maury County, likely delivering a more favorable district to Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who is on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s target list.

“The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind,” said Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton in a social media post. “The decision indicated states can redistrict based off partisan politics.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, is expected to sign the map into law imminently. He called the legislature into a special session last week to pass the map.

“We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters,” Lee said in a statement Friday. “After consultation with the Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, and Secretary of State, I believe the General Assembly has a responsibility to review the map and ensure it remains fair, legal, and defensible.”

Tennessee is the first state to finalize a new congressional map after last week’s Supreme Court decision. Louisiana’s GOP-controlled legislature is expected to unveil a new map as soon as this week, and Republicans in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama are pushing to do the same.

Andrew Howard contributed to this report.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics

Poll: SAVE America Act meets voter skepticism

Published

on

President Donald Trump has made the SAVE America Act a central GOP priority ahead of the midterms. Voters still don’t know how to feel about it.

New results from The POLITICO Poll show that while many Americans support some core provisions of the SAVE America Act — such as requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote — that support is not overwhelming. And they are far less certain about the sweeping elections bill overall, even as Trump has for months pressured Republican lawmakers to pass it.

Democrats in particular oppose much of the SAVE Act, and many of them are unenthusiastic even about the voter ID provisions that generate the broadest support — a sign that Trump is prioritizing legislation that has little crossover appeal.

A 42 percent plurality of voters who supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 back requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote, including when registering by mail. But that number is dwarfed by the three-quarters of Trump 2024 voters who support such a measure, according to the survey conducted by Public First.

Asked about the bill overall — by name, but without providing information on what’s included — just 37 percent of Americans said they support it, and 21 percent oppose it. A larger share, 42 percent, say they neither support nor oppose the SAVE America Act, or are unsure.

Slightly more Americans say the bill will make elections fairer (38 percent) than those who say it will make elections less fair (32 percent). But 30 percent say they don’t know — another sign that their views on the issue are still forming even as the president wields it as a campaign cudgel.

“We are either going to fix” elections, he wrote on his Truth Social recently, casting it in existential terms, “or we won’t have a Country any longer.”

The findings reveal that though voter ID and proof of citizenship are popular, the SAVE America Act has not broken through in the same way. In addition to requiring proof of citizenship, the bill would also require states to regularly review voter lists and remove non-citizens.

“Voter ID is very popular, but the SAVE Act has been loaded up with other stuff,” said Buzz Brockway, a GOP strategist and former state representative in Georgia. “I think Senate Republicans should strip the bill back to Voter ID only. It still won’t pass because of Democratic opposition, but it would be a more popular bill.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the SAVE America Act is “commonsense legislation supported by the vast majority of Americans … who want to ensure our elections are secure and that only American citizens vote in American elections.”

The SAVE America Act passed the House in February and has stalled in the Senate amid GOP divisions and staunch Democratic opposition. Four Republican senators — Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — recently voted against an amendment that would have helped the legislation get across the finish line as part of a broader reconciliation package, raising new questions about its path forward in a narrowly divided Congress.

Critics of the legislation say it would make it much harder for Americans who lack the proper documentation — such as a paper copy of a birth certificate or passport — to vote.

“The SAVE Act will make it exceedingly and unacceptably difficult for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans, to be heard,” Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock said in a brief interview recently. “And so if all the people in the election can’t be heard, who are eligible to vote, then that’s something other than democracy.”

“I don’t think the American public knows what is in store for them if [the SAVE ACT] passes,” said Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono. “Millions of people are going to need to re-register.”

In the absence of movement in Congress, Republicans in some statesare pushing forward with their own efforts to impose proof of citizenship requirements to their voting laws. Several red states, including Arkansas and Kansas, are expected to vote on measures this November that mirror the federal SAVE America Act.

Lawmakers in the battlegrounds of Alaska and Michigan have also garnered the required signatures to put citizenship questions before voters — two states that could test whether Americans’ support for such measures in public opinion polling translates to the ballot box.

Continue Reading

Politics

Stabenow backing Stevens in Democratic Michigan Senate primary

Published

on

Stabenow backing Stevens in Democratic Michigan Senate primary

Former Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) on Wednesday endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in a hotly contested Democratic Senate primary in the state. In a video that Stevens’s campaign posted online, Stabenow said it was “the honor of my lifetime to suit up every day and fight for Michigan” during her time in the Senate…
Read More

Continue Reading

Politics

Former ICE official falls short in GOP House primary in Ohio

Published

on

Former ICE official falls short in GOP House primary in Ohio

A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official who quit her job with the agency to run for Congress came up short Tuesday in her bid to secure the GOP nomination for a northwest Ohio-based seat in the U.S. House. Madison Sheahan, 29, finished third among a crowded Republican field in Tuesday’s primary…
Read More

Continue Reading

Trending