All posts tagged "Tennessee"

A major Tennessee primary has been called on Thursday night, deciding the fate of a scandal-plagued MAGA lawmaker.

Rep. Andy Ogles has lost re-nomination against his primary opponent, former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, according to calls from the Associated Press and NBC News.

He represents Tennessee's 5th District, a snaking gerrymander that stretches from Memphis to the Kentucky border to the southern exurbs of Nashville. It was one of a number of districts chopped to pieces by the Donald Trump-endorsed redistricting of the state earlier this year....

A red state is capitalizing on a major Hollywood studio's rift with California over a Trump-backed merger, per reports.

According to a Tuesday article by The Hollywood Reporter, Tennessee is courting Paramount Skydance as it sets its sights on a new home. Paramount Skydance has threatened to leave California after a coalition of a dozen attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block a $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The Trump Department of Justice greenlit the merger earlier this year.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development sent a letter on July 2 to Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, in which it tried to woo the Trump-allied chairman....

A school district in a deeply red state decided to ban an iconic Pulitzer-winning novel about slavery because of a single passage.

Knox County Schools in Tennessee banned the 1976 novel "Roots: The Saga of an American Family," written by Alex Haley, who spent his early years and later life in the state, according to reports.

The novel, set in the South, follows the journey of Africans who were enslaved and brought to the U.S. and their later generations. It was also turned into a popular mini-series shortly after it was published. ...

A Tennessee state lawmaker set a paper Confederate flag on fire Thursday inside the state's capitol amid protests after the state's Republican lawmakers enacted a new U.S. House map and split the state's only majority-Black congressional seat.

Rep. Justin Jones, a community organizer and Democrat representing the state's 52nd district, used a lighter to set the paper on fire as it burned among a large crowd of cheering demonstrators.

Protests were ongoing Thursday, the third day of a special session in Nashville, where Republican leadership was advancing a new congressional election map after President Donald Trump's demands that the GOP lawmakers redraw the red state’s congressional districts. ...

A MAGA lawmaker who was wearing a Trump flag as a cape was forced to take it off before walking into a legislative session as Republican state lawmakers were following demands from President Donald Trump to redraw the state’s congressional districts — and facing mounting protests that activists say would split the state's only majority-Black congressional seat, according to reports on Thursday.

Republican Tennessee state Rep. Todd Warner was met with booing and yells from protesters on Thursday, the third day of a special session in Nashville, where Republican leadership was advancing a new congressional election map. Warner was walking through the crowd with a Trump flag on his back when security stopped him and removed it before he walked into the legislative chamber.

In a video posted on social media, Republican Tennessee State Rep. Scott Cepicky tried to laugh off Warner's move with Democratic Rep. Torrey Harris, who appeared to be less than amused....

The proposed map for a redistricted red state ahead of the midterms has voters and lawmakers sounding the alarm.

"This is insane," wrote Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), reacting to the proposed map for Tennessee redistricting on X. "It's a blatant, corrupt power grab that would destroy the Black community's and our entire city's voice."

Cohen was referring to the city of Memphis in Shelby County, which will be carved up to water down the Democratic representation, he blasted. ...