After months of waiting for the maps which show Tennesseans what our new State House and State Senate districts will look like, the maps have arrived and we now know whose district we'll be in for Primary and General Elections this fall. In the Senate, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) and the Republican leadership of the upper Chamber are calling their plan the "Regional Integrity Plan." Among the highlights of this new setup include the pairings of four incumbents together, and a potential Democratic vs. Republican epic political showdown in Shelby County between Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle (D-Memphis) and young conservative firebrand Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) in Senate District 28.
In Senate District 25 (Sen. Jim Summerville‐R, Sen. Kerry Roberts‐R) The incumbent from District 18 lives in the new District 25. This pairing was an attempt to keep the number of county splits to the minimum necessary to conform with the federal "one person, one vote" standard under the Voting Rights Act. Sen. Roberts’ prior district included Robertson and Sumner Counties – now too large to be one district combined and too small to be a single‐county district, according to the Senate ad hoc Committee on Redistricting. The new scheme won't change many Senators' area of representation by much, though there does appear to have been some renumbering (this writer will soon live in the 8th Senate District, for example).
The real changes appear to be coming in the Tennessee House of Representatives, especially for those of us in East Tennessee. What amounts to three new districts will be created in Knox County, including (if the map is correct) an 89th District in West Knox County. We won't ask for details on how 89 is consecutive with 13 through 19. Representative Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) won't represent any part of Knox County anymore, but he will have around 2/3rds of Jefferson and roughly the northern third of Sevier County as his new 17th District. The Eastern third of Jefferson County-White Pine, Baneberry, Chesnut Hill, and roughly half of Jefferson City, will be in the 11th House District, currently represented by Representative Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby). The 11th District includes part of Jefferson County, all of Cocke County, and the southern part of Greene County. This writer will live in the newly-redrawn 11th District.
NOTE: This article will be the first in a series, continuing next week, on legislative redistricting in Tennessee.
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