After Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s seat in a neighboring district was redrawn to be more Republican-friendly, the 11-term congresswoman entered the race for the 20th. While she has far outraised her rivals, her decision to run has roiled local Black leaders and some of her colleagues in Congress. CNN’s Randi Kaye speaks to voters in the district.
Immediately upon the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act, several Southern states moved to eliminate Black congressional districts. But what Republicans didn't count on was the political backlash they would trigger. Rev. Earle Fisher, senior pastor at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, talks with Rachel Maddow about activating Black voters in Tennessee who are outraged at Republicans gerrymandering away their representation.
Democratic turnout for House primaries in Shelby County, Tennessee, a majority-Black county, surged to the highest level in a decade.
Votes cast for the House candidates on Saturday’s primary ballot won’t count after state officials moved the election to November to provide time to redraw congressional maps.
Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.), a liberal Democrat in his 20th year on Capitol Hill, announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the term, becoming the earliest casualty of the Republicans’ redistricting campaign ahead of November’s midterms. Cohen, who will turn 77 later this month, hammered Republicans for orchestrating a power grab to disenfranchise Black voters in districts like his. But with the new map in place — and the cards stacked heavily against him — Cohen said he’d rather step down than go through the motions of an election contest he was sure to lose. #SteveCohen #Redistricting #Democrat #Tennessee #Memphis #Congress
Louisiana state lawmakers voted early Wednesday morning to eliminate one of two majority-Black congressional voting districts in the state — the latest in a bitter redistricting fight between Republicans and Democrats. The state’s Senate and Government Affairs Committee voted 4-3 along party lines at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday to advance a GOP-led redistricting effort after almost 10 hours of deliberation. A floor vote on the legislation is expected in the Louisiana Senate on Thursday, after which it will head to the lower chamber for consideration. Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/5876268-louisiana-republicans-senate-map-democrats/ #SupremeCourt #Congress #Redistricting #Louisiana #VotingRightsAct #Virginia