Williamson County Democrats Rally Post Redistricting

“The Republicans do not own this county,” Williamson County Democratic Party Chairman Ragan Grossman told a crowd of more than 200 people in the front yard of a Franklin farmhouse on May 17, just days after Republican gerrymandering split Shelby County into three congressional districts and shifted the maps throughout the state.

“This is a proving ground for Democrats,” Grossman said. “We have networks here. We have resources here. We have influence here. The question is not whether we can make a difference, the question is whether we're willing to.”

Numerous Democratic candidates for school board and county commission to state and federal offices attended the rally. Several elected officials and candidates spoke, including Columbia Mayor and 5th Congressional District candidate Chaz Molder.

Molder relaunched his bid to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, following the redistricting, which split Williamson County between District 5 and District 9. That means that the county no longer has any portion of the 7th Congressional District. 

Molder told the Williamson Scene the shift and expansion of the 5th Congressional District from six to 16 counties isn’t changing his campaign’s strategy in meeting voters or addressing issues such as the cost of living.

“They can change the maps to try to protect Andy Ogles, but it's not going to change our desire to serve in a meaningful way in Washington for people of all of Tennessee,” Molder said.

Molder noted his time living and attending law school in Memphis, his wife’s family connection to Ripley and his connections with Maury and Williamson County, framing the redistricting as a manageable change.

“In a lot of ways this district fits me just as well, if not better than the original 5th, and either way, we're ready for this, and we feel really good about our chances,” Molder said.

“I think this [gerrymandering] is opening the eyes to a lot of people that right now we have problems that are bigger than party. We have problems in this country. We've got to elect people that are going to focus on problems that actually matter and find solutions, compromise when you can, but hold on to our convictions as well, and find that balance,” he continued. “At the end of the day, there's a long time between now and November, but I think this is firing up the voters, Republican, Democrat, and independents.

Molder, who has gained national attention and support, is facing several Democratic challengers. On May 20, he earned the endorsement of longtime sitting 9th Congressional District Rep. Steve Cohen.

State Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) spoke of her experience last year serving as Rep. Aftyn Behn’s (D-Nashville) political director during her failed 7th Congressional District bid.

“We found that Williamson County is ready to flip,” Oliver said. “Democrats are out here, and we are really, really getting close to changing the map. Republicans can change the map all they want to with their colored crayons, but we are the real power here.

In the last minutes of the special session, Oliver unveiled a sheet in protest that read “No Jim Crow 2.0” and “Stop the TN Steal,” standing on her desk and singing, while her Democratic Senate colleagues defiantly stood in the well.

Oliver called her protest “the ultimate stand that I needed to take.”

“If we can't fight for Black voting rights and making sure that Memphis doesn't get their power taken away from them, then what are we here for?” Oliver said. “Not getting voter rights, it's life and death for people like me, and we're not going to change this country, we're not going to change the state, and we're not going to change this county unless well-meaning white folks check other white folks.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Memphis City Councilmember Jerri Green called U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, a “boot-licker in chief.” She could face Blackburn in the general election if both women win their primaries. 

“The whole country needs to be looking at us here, because we are going to fight back, and we are going to win,” Green said. “I'm not gonna lie with you, it is going to be hard, but hard is not impossible. Too many people stop at hard, so we are going to have to outwork, out organize, and out vote them.”

State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) is a rising national Democratic star since he was expelled from the statehouse in 2023 as part of the “Tennessee Three” before being quickly reinstated by his constituents.

“They tried to do this to divide us, but instead you’ve brought us closer together,” Pearson told the crowd in an impassioned speech encouraging resistance through civic engagement. “You [Republicans] rigged the map, but you can't rig the momentum of this moment where we recognize that our justice is intertwined, our fight for fairness is intertwined, our fight for civil rights and equal rights and voting rights is intertwined because if the people of Williamson County and Maury County and Shelby County are not doing all right, nobody's doing all right.”

Pearson told the Williamson Scene that his campaign’s momentum, which he launched last year before the gerrymandering of Shelby County, is an advantage in the evolving race.

“The same issues that mattered in Shelby County and Tipton County are ones that matter in McNairy County and Williamson County,” Pearson said. “Our democracy is under siege, the costs [of living] are skyrocketing, and people are suffering because of the policies of the Trump administration and Republicans who are in power, and they want something new and different that's actually going to meet the needs of people, not hate, but with a sense of love and urgency.”

Pearson was initially primarying Cohen, but Cohen withdrew from the race on May 15. Pearson is facing several Democratic challengers, including Cohen protégé Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis). 

The rift between Pearson and Cohen drew increasingly evident in the past few months, and Pearson told the Williamson Scene that he was not aware in advance that Cohen was dropping out of the race, adding that Cohen hasn’t offered him any support in his race. 

“I think right now we have a good sense of democratic unity in Memphis and Shelby County and across the state of Tennessee. Everybody's appreciative of Steve's service and recognizes that in this moment the momentum, the energy that we need and that we've been building for the last eight months is really going to be helpful for us in helping to excite the rest of the state for the campaign, so that we can win what's going to be an extraordinarily competitive race this November.”

Pearson, like Molder, is framing the gerrymandering as an opportunity to connect with a more diverse slate of voters.

“While I think it is a devastating and difficult choices they have made to crack and to break our district into three, I think about what my momma always says, ‘What the devil made for bad, God can turn into good,’” he said. “Now you've got people in the richest county concerned about the people in one of the most struggling counties. That's unity, that is building solidarity, and that's how we're going to win this thing.”