Texas House Democrats are supporting their counterparts in Tennessee after Republican lawmakers removed Tennessee Democrats from committee assignments following protests over a newly approved congressional map that disassembles a Black-majority district in Memphis.
In a letter addressed to Tennessee House Democratic leader Karen Camper and House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, Texas Democrats condemned the “blatant discrimination” and “abuse of power” against lawmakers who “refused to sit silently while a Republican supermajority cuts apart Black political power in the middle of an election cycle.”
As of Thursday morning, more than 35 Texas House Democrats had signed onto the letter.
Tennessee Republican lawmakers approved a new congressional map last week that disassembled a Black-majority congressional district built around the predominately Black city of Memphis. The change is likely to flip the historically Democratic-held seat to Republicans in November.
Those opposed to the redistricting effort argue it resembles tactics used during the Jim Crow era of racial discrimination.
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton subsequently penned a letter to Camper, notifying the leader that House Democrats would be removed from all standing committees and subcommittees as discipline for “instigating and encouraging” disruptions and “disorder on the House floor.”
Read the full letter from Texas Democrats
More on Tennessee redistricting fight drawing parallels to Texas
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton's letter to Camper
Democratic Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones' social media post