What This Story Is About
The 2026 midterm election was the first time Tennessee voters cast their ballots under its new map for U.S. Congressional districts.
Why It Matters
Tennessee’s congressional district map was redrawn during a three-day special session called by Gov. Bill Lee in May. The new map split Memphis, Tennessee’s only Black majority district, into three districts — 5, 8 and 9.
What Happens Next
Election officials will continue counting votes. Once all votes are counted, they will be certified and winners will be officially declared.
For Context
On Tuesday, Republicans came out on top in eight out of nine U.S. congressional districts in Tennessee along with the governor’s race.
Catch Up
Here’s what the new congressional districts in Tennessee mean for voters and candidates
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The 2026 midterm election was the first time Tennessee voters cast their ballots under its new map for U.S. Congressional districts.
Tennessee’s congressional district map was redrawn during a three-day special session called by Gov. Bill Lee in May. It was passed by state Republicans and signed into law on May 7.
The new map split Memphis, Tennessee’s only Black majority district, into three districts — 5, 8 and 9. Unofficial results from the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office show Republicans won all three of those seats.
new 2026 Tennessee Congressional Map(WSMV)
Tennessee Republicans said the new map modernizes the state’s redistricting process by removing “racial data from the mapmaking process entirely.”
However, state Democrats said the map was meant to “target and potentially dismantle the state’s only Black-majority district centered in Memphis.”
Democrats sued to block the new maps
A lawsuit filed by three Memphis voters, the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and The Equity Alliance filed a lawsuit after the map was passed, claiming that it discriminates against Black voters.
However, a federal court denied the temporary injunction the lawsuit asked for after determining that the map was driven by politics and not race.
2026 midterm election results
On Tuesday, Republicans came out on top in eight out of nine U.S. congressional districts in Tennessee along with the governor’s race, according to unofficial results from the Tennessee Secretary of State.
Two congressional districts flipped parties, with one turning Republican and the other Democrat.
See the projected winners of the nine congressional races below.
*Indicates incumbent
Candidate-ElectDistrict*Diana Harshbarger (R)1*Tim Burchett (R)2*Chuck Fleischmann (R)3Victoria Broderick (D)4Charlie Hatcher (R)5Johnny Garret (R)6*Matt Van Epps (R)7*David Kustoff (R)8Brent Taylor (R)9
District 9 race
The seat that flipped Republican was for District 9, with Brent Taylor, R, projected to beat Justin Pearson, D, by just over one percentage point. Taylor received 49.63% of the vote while Pearson received 48.50%, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State.
Following his projected win, Taylor was asked whether a Republican would have won District 9 before the redistricting.
“In District 9, before redistricting? Hell no, they wouldn’t have won it,” Taylor said. “I mean, it was a 70% Democrat district. All we did was make it more competitive. And you saw that tonight. And so, yeah, I think the way the district was drawn, the Supreme Court says it was unconstitutional. And so we corrected that when we went into the General Assembly.”
Pearson spoke out after his loss as well, saying the race was challenging due to “gerrymandering.”
“Y’all, this race has been challenging,” Pearson said. “The Supreme Court of the United States of America allowed the Tennessee General Assembly and Governor Bill Lee to pass racist gerrymandered [maps]. Trying to make it impossible for us to win this thing. But nothing is impossible with God.”
Despite the Republican win in District 9, NBC News reports that the district actually shifted 20.3 points toward Democrats compared to the 2024 presidential election. Their report, which includes data from the Associated Press, shows that each county in the district shifted more left compared to the 2024 election.
Counties represented by the new District 9 include Bedford, Giles, Hardeman, Hardin, Lawrence, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, McNairy, Moore, Wayne, and portions of Shelby, Williamson, Rutherford and Fayette.
District 4 race
Tennessee’s 4th congressional district was the second to flip parties, with Democrat Victoria Broderick projected to defeat Republican incumbent Scott DesJarlais in an extremely tight race, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State.
Broderick received 48.87% of the votes, compared to DesJarlais’ 48.73%, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State.
District 4 represents Bledsoe, Cannon, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, Van Buren, Warren and portions of Davidson and Rutherford counties,
According to reporting from NBC News, District 4 shifted 24.42 points toward Democrats compared to the 2024 presidential election as of Wednesday, Nov. 4, with all 11 counties showing the shift to the left.
Copyright 2026 WSMV. All rights reserved.
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