Republican candidates seek a statewide House sweep after the Legislature redraws districts
The map is being used for the first time in a primary that will determine congressional nominees. The vote comes three months after the Republican-led Legislature redrew the districts, changing the boundaries of the Memphis-based seat.
The reshaped 9th District extends about 200 miles, or 320 kilometers, east from Memphis before turning north toward the Nashville area. The district previously favored Democrats but now tilts toward Republicans.
Trump has endorsed Taylor in the four-person Republican primary. The contest is part of a Republican effort to win all of Tennessee’s U.S. House districts in the midterm elections and support the party’s attempt to retain its slim House majority.
Trump has supported the redistricting as part of a national plan to help Republicans hold that majority. The Tennessee map followed a Supreme Court ruling that weakened federal Voting Rights Act protection for minorities.
Some Memphis voters have raised concerns that splitting the majority-Black district has diminished their representation. The primary will provide the first electoral test of the new boundaries, but the source material does not include election results or a winner.
The redesigned district links Memphis with communities far to the east and then reaches toward the Nashville area. That geography has altered the political balance of the seat and changed the field in which Tennessee voters will choose nominees for the general election.
The primary also places the map’s practical consequences before voters after a rapid redistricting process. The Legislature acted three months before the vote, leaving the new boundaries to make their debut in the congressional primary.
The election will therefore select nominees under a map that changed both the composition and partisan alignment of the 9th District. It also will show how candidates compete in a district that formerly favored Democrats but now favors Republicans.