The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais compelled the Tennessee supermajority to carve up a majority Black congressional district between three congressional districts during a 3-day sham of a special session. Beyond the issues of voting rights, racial discrimination, and partisan gerrymandering, the move has created another unsettling and expensive issue for Tennessee voters. Multiple candidates for new congressional seats are also running to keep their state-level positions, and it’s legal.
It is important to be clear about two things: 1. Seeking a state-level office and a federal office at the same time was legal long before redistricting and the Callais decision; and 2. Technically, the candidates did not have a choice since the withdrawal deadlines for state offices had passed, and the legislature did not extend the filing and withdrawal periods for those races.
So, what’s the big deal?
In the case of the 9th congressional district, which dips into the Whitehaven community of Memphis, stretches over 200 miles eastward following U.S. Highway 64, and then doglegs North into Williamson County, a Nashville suburb, there are four candidates who currently hold positions in the state legislature – two Democrats and two Republicans. Representative Justin Pearson, a member of the “Tennessee Three” who was expelled from the General Assembly for protesting on the House floor and subsequently reappointed by the Shelby County Commission, had originally filed to challenge long-time Congressman Steve Cohen in the former 9th congressional district’s Democratic primary. He had also qualified to seek re-election for his state house seat. When the 9th was redrawn, Cohen decided not to run, but Pearson stayed in the race. Democratic State Senator London Lamar had qualified for re-election to the state senate before the maps were redrawn. When the new 9th included a larger Black population and more of her senate district, she filed to seek the Democratic nomination for Congress, too.
In the Republican primary, State Representative Todd Warner from Marshall County in the far Eastern portion of the new congressional district announced his candidacy for congress and remained qualified for the state house seat. Warner infamously wore a Trump flag as a cape into the House chambers on the day of the vote for the new maps. Less surprising than summertime humidity in Memphis, State Senator Brent Taylor, who has always had a thirst to serve in Congress, also entered the race within hours of the new lines being approved. Taylor was endorsed by U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty in the same release announcing his candidacy. He had previously qualified for re-election to the state senate as well.
Each of these candidates might say, as suggested, that the deadline for withdrawal had passed and that seeking both offices was the only way to file for the new congressional district. That may be true. However, there are extraordinary circumstances laid out in statute allowing a person to be removed from the ballot after the withdrawal deadline. Eleventh-hour redistricting at the behest of the President is not specifically named, but it is hard to believe that a court would not at least be sympathetic. To my knowledge, no one tried to withdraw.
If the candidate who wins the congressional seat in November also wins their state legislative seat, they would be required by law to resign from one of them. It is obvious that any of them would choose to resign from their state-level position. That would not trigger a temporary appointment, but instead, a special election. Not only would this be confusing for voters and result in dismal turnout, but it would also cost the taxpayers approximately $400,000 to conduct the election.
Most concerning is the unfair advantage this legal loophole of sorts provides for a candidate like Senator Taylor. Legally, funds raised for a state senate or state house campaign cannot be spent specifically to help a candidate win a U.S. House seat. For example, Senator Taylor could not legally transfer funds from his Senate account to pay for ads that urge voters to vote for him for Congress. However, what he can do is spend funds from his senate account on ads and materials asking voters to support him for the senate that look, feel, and sound nearly the same as his congressional ads and materials. As of the last disclosure, Taylor had just under $1 million in his state senate account. Television and radio ads, for example, purchased in the Memphis market for the senate campaign will be seen and heard in counties like Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy in the congressional district. The same principle applies to the other candidates, but none has the war chest of Taylor.
Whether it qualifies as irony, hypocrisy, or both, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s endorsement of Taylor is somewhat curious in light of her past views on campaigning for two offices at the same time. In 2024, when Blackburn ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate, she was challenged by Representative Gloria Johnson, another member of the Tennessee Three, who also ran for her Knox County house seat simultaneously. At the time, Blackburn’s camp said,
“If Gloria Johnson truly believes she will win the Democratic primary and general election in November, why is she running for both seats?”
Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, who has also endorsed Taylor, said this about Johnson seeking both positions,
"She needs to choose what she’s really interested in and not use one as a safety provision in case she loses the higher office.”
Seems like sound advice.