State Watch

Tennessee lawmaker calls for Memphis to secede over redistricting

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by Ryan Mancini - 05/07/26 8:10 PM ET

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by Ryan Mancini - 05/07/26 8:10 PM ET

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A Democratic state lawmaker in Tennessee on Thursday called for Memphis to secede over a new Republican-friendly House map, which was later signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee (R).

The map Lee approved carves up the state’s only majority-Black district and threatens the lone Democrat in Tennessee’s nine-member delegation. It was quickly passed by the state’s House and Senate on Thursday.

“Let Memphis secede from the state of Tennessee,” state Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D) said, according to reporting from The Tennessean. “Let my people go. I’m dead-a– serious. If you’re constantly beating on us, let us out.”

Parkinson, who represents part of Shelby County, which includes Memphis, told the Memphis-based outlet WMC-TV that the redistricting was “no longer simply about maps.”

“This is about whether Memphis, a majority-Black economic engine for this state, is expected to continue contributing billions in tax revenue, culture, labor and commerce while being systematically stripped of political power,” he added.

Parkinson said that if the state’s elected officials no longer believe “the people of Memphis deserve the ability to choose a representative who reflects their community, then at least have the courage to say it plainly. Do not hide behind maps and procedure.”

The Memphis Democrat’s remarks were not the first time he called for the city to secede, having done so in 2018 after he accused the state’s budget cuts for Memphis as being “abusive” and a retaliation after two Confederate statues were removed, WMC-TV reported.

The new congressional map will split Rep. Steve Cohen’s (D-Tenn.) Memphis-based 9th Congressional District, the state’s only majority-Black district. It will be divided into three congressional districts and will further divide Nashville into five.

Tennessee’s map was redrawn after the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana’s own new map with a second majority Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The Supreme Court ordered the state to redraw its congressional lines, leaving one of the state’s two Democratic seats at risk.

President Trump and GOP lawmakers declared victory after the decision, with Trump saying on social media that he had a “very good conversation” with Lee about developing a response “to correct the unconstitutional flaw in the Congressional Maps of the Great State of Tennessee.”

Cohen, the Volunteer State’s lone Democrat in its delegation, called Tennessee’s new map “shameful” and vowed legal action.

“And just like that, the TN GOP voted to enforce a racial gerrymander of Memphis and strip our city of effective representation for decades,” Cohen wrote in a post on X.

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