Maybe Nashville really is the new Austin. Last decade, Texas Republicans split Austin six ways to dilute Democratic votes and seize more seats. This time, Texas Republicans "packed" rather than "cracked" Austin to shore up GOP incumbents. But a few hundred miles to the east, Tennessee Republicans are on the verge of passing a map that divides Nashville three ways, a move that would likely end Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper's (TN-05) four-decade career.
Unlike Republican state leaders in Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri, who have thus far passed up opportunities to seize more seats, Tennessee's GOP legislative leaders didn't hesitate to advance a map that would convert the state from 7R-2D to 8R-1D.
This wasn't unexpected: Cooper, a veteran Blue Dog who represents an increasingly progressive, Biden +24 Nashville seat, had earlier admitted his party was "at the mercy" of the other side. "What Republicans could not win in local elections, they are stealing through gerrymandering," Cooper seethed in a statement Wednesday. "Some folks on the committee are people I’ve known all my life and what they are doing is
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