MAY 4, 2026
Alabama and Tennessee call special sessions to redraw congressional maps after Supreme Court Voting Rights Act ruling
Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee called special legislative sessions this week to redraw congressional district maps following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found a Louisiana congressional map improperly used race as a basis for drawing district lines, weakening a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called lawmakers to Montgomery starting Monday, while Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced a special session beginning Tuesday. The ruling has prompted multiple Republican-led Southern states to consider redrawing their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The Supreme Court's decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana for relying too heavily on race, set off a redistricting response across Republican-led statehouses in the South. Florida approved new districts on the day of the ruling, Louisiana moved to delay its May 16 congressional primary, and South Carolina's governor indicated the state might also revisit its map, according to the Associated Press.
In Alabama, federal judges had previously ordered the state to use a court-selected map featuring a second district with a substantial number of Black voters, and had directed the state to use that map through the 2030 Census. Alabama is appealing that order and hopes the Supreme Court, in light of the Louisiana ruling, will allow the state to revert to a 2023 map drawn by state lawmakers — a map that would substantially alter the district currently represented by Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. Republican legislative leaders said the move would "give our state a fighting chance to send seven Republican members to Congress," compared to the current delegation of five Republicans and two Democrats.
In Tennessee, the special session centered on the state's 9th Congressional District, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis and currently held by Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat. Gov. Lee said he called the session after consulting with state legislative and legal leaders, and also after a conversation with President Trump. Trump, in a Truth Social post, described the district lines as containing an "unconstitutional flaw" and said the change "should give us one extra seat." Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a leading candidate to succeed Lee as governor, presented a proposed map that would give Republicans a 9-0 edge in the state's House delegation, writing that it was "essential to cement" Trump's agenda.