Tennessee Republicans split Memphis three ways in May, and on Tuesday the new map did what it was drawn to do. State Sen. Brent Taylor, a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump, led Democrat Justin Pearson 49.6% to 48.5% with about 99% of precincts reporting, a margin of roughly 2,500 votes, and declared victory.
Pearson, a 31-year-old state representative, had not conceded as of 11 p.m., Action News 5 in Memphis reported. Under the map in force until this year, a Democrat would not have needed a count that close. The old 9th District was 69% Black and had been held by Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat, since 2007.
The Republican-controlled legislature redrew it in a special session after the Supreme Court’s April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a 6-3 decision that weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Elena Kagan warned in dissent that it left the provision “all but a dead letter.” Tennessee was the first state to pass a new map after the ruling, at the urging of Trump.
The result is a district that no longer looks like a city. The new 9th stretches roughly 200 miles from Memphis into rural West Tennessee, and more than 70% of its voters are new to it. It is about 32% Black. Memphis and Shelby County, home to roughly 400,000 Black residents, are now divided among three districts, none with a Democratic majority. Cohen announced his retirement after 19 years once his district was gone.
Democrats called the map a racial gerrymander. Taylor ran on support for Trump, stronger immigration enforcement and backing for police.
Pearson was one of the “Tennessee Three” lawmakers whom Republicans moved to expel from the state House in 2023 after a gun-control protest.
The margin is 1.1 points, on a map drawn to make a Memphis Democrat’s win hard. A Black candidate came within a few thousand votes of beating it, and Black Memphis, split across three seats, still lost the district it had for two decades. That is what Callais made possible, and Tennessee is where it first showed.
What happens next depends on the final count. If Pearson does not concede, the state’s certification process and any recount request will decide it.
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