{"id":8881,"date":"2026-08-09T15:35:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8881"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:35:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:35:59","slug":"voter-turnout-surges-in-tennessee-after-black-majority-district-is-erased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8881","title":{"rendered":"Voter turnout surges in Tennessee after Black-majority district is erased"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Voters fill out their ballots inside Springhill Baptist Church in Memphis on Thursday. (Stu Boyd II\/Commercial Appeal\/USA Today Network\/Reuters Connect)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Democratic turnout for <\/i>House primaries in a majority-Black Tennessee county surged to the highest level in a decade Thursday, the latest sign that redistricting may be energizing Black voters across the South.<\/p>

Read more Pirro, Trump\u2019s longtime champion, is on the outs over Reflecting Pool move<\/a><\/p>\n

A fifth of active registered voters cast a ballot in three Democratic U.S. House primaries held Thursday in Shelby County, which includes Memphis. That\u2019s more than double the turnout percentage for similar contests in 2024.<\/p>\n

Organizers said the outpouring was motivated by anger over the Republican-led legislature\u2019s action to break up the state\u2019s only majority-Black congressional district after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated minority voter protections in the Voting Rights Act this year. Lawmakers dispersed the Black voters of Shelby County into three separate districts that stretch into rural White communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are pissed off,\u201d said Kristal Knight, chairwoman of the voting rights group Organize Tennessee. Memphis is \u201cthe densest part of the African American vote in the state, and people really took it personally \u2014 you are trying to come into our county, break up our county and split our vote? And what better way to push back than to say we\u2019re going to turn out.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has pushed red states to draw new congressional districts to help the GOP maintain control of the House in elections this fall. The Supreme Court\u2019s gutting of protections in the Voting Rights Act made that easier. Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee quickly drew new maps that dilute Black voting power, raising fears that the civil rights gains of the past 60 years are being destroyed.<\/p>\n

But the actions have galvanized Black voters, who have mobilized protests in many states and turned out in historic numbers in primaries in South Carolina. That turnout helped prompt the South Carolina legislature to abandon plans to dissolve a majority-Black district. The Georgia <\/b>legislature also opted not to act after an outpouring of opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are really amped up about \u2026 what is happening across the South,\u201d Knight said. \u201cPeople need to show the rest of America, this is not the way you treat voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats and voting rights organizers had worked overtime in Tennessee over the past few weeks to ensure a big presence in primary elections there for governor, a U.S. Senate seat and the state\u2019s nine House districts, even though Republicans are heavily favored to win those races in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cA night like last night lets you know it\u2019s not all in vain,\u201d said the Rev. Earle Fisher, pastor at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, who was among an outspoken, ardent group of faith leaders in the city who ramped up turnout efforts <\/a>after redistricting.<\/p>\n

Memphis resident Harmony Lucas, 26, was one of the young voters who helped to boost turnout \u2014 urging friends, family and even co-workers to join her at the polls. Lucas said she has voted in the past, but the GOP effort to break up the state\u2019s only majority-Black district \u201cmade me realize I had to get more serious that my voice is heard. It matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ian <\/b>Randolph, who founded the Shelby County Voter Alliance to boost voter participation, attributed the jump in turnout in part to such efforts, including by unions and other civic organizations. In recent months, they have had poll parties, done texting and phone banking, and gone door to door to canvass voters.<\/p>

Read more Senate narrowly approves Todd Blanche as AG, capping tough confirmation fight<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that touches a voter, we are involved in,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cWorking those things got us a better turnout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee\u2019s lone Democratic congressman, decided not to seek reelection after the 9th District, which he represents, was overhauled. Justin Pearson \u2014 a charismatic Black preacher who received national attention in 2023 for his expulsion from the state legislature after protesting at the Capitol in Nashville \u2014 won the Democratic nomination to wage the uphill battle to replace Cohen.<\/p>\n

In his victory speech Thursday night, Pearson depicted his candidacy as an act of defiance against redistricting and the undermining of the Voting Rights Act, calling those steps \u201ca blatant attempt to keep people like us out of power and an attempt to make us quit.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOP strategist Ward Baker, who is working in the 9th District with Republican nominee Brent Taylor, disputed the idea that Black voters are turning out in bigger numbers out of anger over redistricting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time there\u2019s a contested primary in a long time, and several people are running,\u201d Baker said. He pointed out that Republican voters overall still outnumber Democrats by a wide margin.<\/p>\n

Beyond redistricting, Randolph said voters in the majority-Black county have been energized by other issues including an attempted state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools and the presence of federal immigration agents and the National Guard in the city.<\/p>\n

Democrats\u2019 task gets harder heading into general elections this fall. Tennessee\u2019s 9th District, which had been the state\u2019s only blue seat, is now rated Solid Republican by the Cook Political Report and went for Trump by 21 points in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone that came out last night \u2014 that needs to double for November,\u201d Knight said.<\/p>\n

Fisher said he and other pastors have been planning another \u201cSouls to the Polls\u201d rally like the one that drew more than 1,000 people this spring. Thursday\u2019s show of force gives him cautious optimism for November.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least some of what we did worked,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those instances where you can log it as a win and build on it, but it\u2019s not like a victory lap.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Todd Blanche takes over Justice Department wracked by low morale and vacancies<\/a><\/p>\n

Eric Lau and Ela Jalil contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High Democratic turnout for House primaries in Shelby County, which includes Memphis, is the latest sign that redistricting may be energizing Black Southern voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nVoter turnout surges in Tennessee after Black-majority district is erased - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8881\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voter turnout surges in Tennessee after Black-majority district is erased - 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