Inside the results: How redistricting shaped Tennessee’s primary election

Thursday’s primary in the southern state of Tennessee has provided the first test of the state’s new congressional district map , redrawn in May.

Tennessee was one of roughly 10 states to reconfigure its map since 2025, as part of a partisan push to gain an advantage in the 2026 United States midterm election.

The election is seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term in office, and the Republican leader has cheered redistricting efforts in right-leaning states like Tennessee, as part of a broader national plan to maintain his party’s control of Congress.

Each district on a congressional map translates to one seat in the House of Representatives, and how a district is drawn can affect who is ultimately elected. With Republicans holding a slim majority in the House, the chamber is considered vulnerable to flip to Democratic control.

Tennessee’s redistricting effort came after the US Supreme Court weakened protections for minority voters under the federal Voting Rights Act in April.

That allowed Republican lawmakers to redraw their congressional map in a way that broke apart the state’s one majority-Black district in Memphis, long considered a Democratic stronghold.

Republicans already hold eight of the state’s nine congressional seats. They will be going for a clean sweep of all the districts in November. Thursday’s primaries have set the stage for those midterm showdowns by finalising the Democratic and Republican nominees for November’s ballot.

Senator Marsha Blackburn has defeated US Representative John Rose to clinch the Republican nomination for the governor’s office.