Randy Fine

Tennessee's Republican-led redistricting effort simply resembles what Democrats have done "in New England for decades," Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Friday.

Appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Early" with host Alex Kraemer, Fine defended Tennessee Republicans after state lawmakers on Thursday approved a newly drawn congressional map that reshapes the Memphis-centered district currently represented by Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen.

The new map divides Shelby County, home to majority-Black Memphis, into three Republican-leaning districts, a move critics say weakens minority voting power.

Civil rights groups, including the NAACP, have already filed legal challenges against the plan.

Fine argued the changes follow recent Supreme Court rulings limiting the use of race in congressional redistricting.

"The Supreme Court said it's not OK to draw districts to favor one race. That's what's been happening in many of these southern states because of a law passed many decades ago," Fine said.

"The Supreme Court said something simple: all Americans are equal, and you can't draw districts to favor one group of Americans over another. Republicans win overwhelmingly in Tennessee.

"What's happening in Tennessee has been the case in New England for decades, where there are no Republicans elected. But no one complained about that because they were Republicans."

The battle comes after the Supreme Court's recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which limited key Voting Rights Act provisions tied to race-based district drawing.

The ruling has triggered redistricting efforts in several Southern states, including Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

Democrats and voting-rights activists blasted Tennessee's map, calling it a partisan and racial gerrymander.

Tennessee Democrats staged protests at the state Capitol this week, while the NAACP filed an emergency court petition seeking to block the map.

Fine rejected accusations that Republicans were targeting minority representation, noting the Memphis district is currently held by Cohen, who is white.

"What's crazy about this in particular is the Democrat who holds this seat that they're talking about is a white guy," Fine said. "They're trying to make this about race, when the person who's threatened by this district is a white male Democrat."

Fine also accused Democrats of hypocrisy on redistricting, pointing to heavily Democrat congressional maps in Northeastern states.

"Democrats have no shame," he said. "For decades, they have gerrymandered New England to make sure not a single Republican is elected. But when Republicans do exactly the same thing in the South, all of a sudden the world is on fire."

Looking ahead to the midterms, Fine said Republicans should focus on issues such as illegal immigration, welfare fraud, and national security rather than getting bogged down in court fights over maps.

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