Tennessee’s new 9th District draws Republican race

Days after the Tennessee Legislature changed state law and redrew congressional districts, the new 9th District seat is drawing a race between two legislative Republicans.

Republican Rep. Todd Warner of Chapel Hill in rural Marshall County announced Monday he will run for the 9th U.S. Congressional District, pitting him against Republican Sen. Brent Taylor of Eads in Shelby County. The district map adopted by lawmakers last week is tied up in three lawsuits but remains in effect.

“I’m not a politician picked by insiders, consultants and lobbyists. I’m a Tennessee fighter who will never back down, never surrender, and never apologize for putting Tennessee first. The swamp can keep their endorsements. I’m running for the people who feel like nobody in Washington fights for them anymore,” Warner, a farmer, said in a statement.

Warner, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, wore a Trump flag in the Capitol last week as lawmakers voted to alter state law to allow districts to be redrawn in the middle of an apportionment cycle, then adopted new maps cutting Memphis’ Black vote into three districts that could be diluted by rural and suburban white voters.

The new 9th District runs from south Memphis across the southern part of Tennessee before turning north into Marshall, Maury and Williamson counties.

Taylor, a former funeral home operator, announced he was running for the 9th District post the same day the legislature adopted the map and Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law. 

“We are at a defining moment in Tennessee’s history and an even more pivotal moment for the future of our country,” Taylor said in a Facebook post. He said he is running to “stand with Trump and cement Tennessee’s conservative legacy for generations to come.”

Taylor passed legislation this year as part of Republicans’ immigration package to set up an English-only driver’s license test. A former member of the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission, Taylor amended the bill to allow the exam to be given in other languages the first time and then to be administered in English when a person reapplies after three years.

He also pushed through a measure giving the state control of Memphis Shelby County Schools with creation of a state oversight board that will have authority over the elected school board. In addition, he supported a forensic audit costing the state $7.6 million to investigate the school district’s finances.

Taylor also is an outspoken critic of Shelby County’s District Attorney General Steve Mulroy, passing legislation this year giving the state the ability to investigate his office. Another measure sponsored by Taylor requires reports from the DA’s office on the handling of cases stemming from the Memphis Safe Task Force, a buildup of local, state and federal law enforcement authorities.

Warner, who keeps a standup cutout of Trump in his office, has been a bit more of a Republican maverick, opposing Lee’s private-school voucher plans at every turn. But he fell in line with Republican leadership during last week’s special session on redistricting.

“President Trump showed us what real leadership looks like. Tennessee doesn’t need another polished politician reading from consultant talking points. We need a fighter who will secure the border, defend our God-given rights, cut wasteful spending, protect our rural way of life and put Tennessee families first,” he said in the Facebook release.

Federal agents searched Warner’s home after he was elected six years ago for the first time, along with the homes of now-former House Speaker Glen Casada and his ex-chief of staff, Cade Cothren. Casada and Cothren were found guilty by a jury last year of honest services fraud and multiple other charges in connection with a secretive political consulting firm they ran to benefit from taxpayer funds. Trump gave them full pardons just before they were to report to prison.

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Warner, who has never been charged, attended the trial to support Cothren and has continued to use him for political work. Cothren’s wife, Ava, is listed as press contact for Warner’s election.

Marshall County residents turned back Warner’s effort last year to build a quarry lake on his farm property. He contended it was to be used for agricultural purposes.

Three lawsuits have been filed against the new congressional district map. Democrats are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order on the new districts before the new May 15 candidate qualifying deadline Republicans adopted last week. It falls more than two months after the original March 10 deadline.

Republicans defended the plan during the special session by saying it was done without considering race but for political purposes — to give Trump another vote in Congress at the midterm election.

Lee called the special session at Trump’s request after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a key provision in the 1965 Voting Rights Act designed to protect Black voting blocks such as the one in Memphis.