The state Senate yesterday approved the final redistricting map to be considered, voting along party lines to clear the map setting new boundaries for state House seats, the Tennessean reports. The Senate had approved the plans for its seats and congressional seats last Thursday. The state House passed the map for its members on Monday. The three redistricting plans now head to Gov. Bill Lee for his signature. Tennessee Democrats say they are preparing a legal challenge to the plans.

On a 26-5 party-line vote, the state Senate yesterday approved maps setting new boundaries for the state's nine congressional and 33 Senate districts. It delayed voting on a new map for House seats until Wednesday, the Tennessean reports. After the vote, Democrats hinted at a potential legal battle saying the map could dilute the voting power of minority populations and unnecessarily split up counties. Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said, “It's hard to imagine you don't see this in litigation at some point. I can't imagine people don't look at this and say there are legal deficiencies.” The state House is set to begin debate on the various plans on Monday.

Nashville is one of four finalists for the 2024 Republican National Convention, a party official tells the Nashville Post. The other cities still in the running are Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City. Party officials will now travel to each city to determine their feasibility of hosting the major national event. Gov. Bill Lee had asked Nashville tourism officials last month to bid for both the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Tennessee Republicans plan to divide Nashville into multiple congressional districts, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, has told the Associated Press. The splitting of the district would likely mean that Republicans would control eight of Tennessee’s nine congressional districts, leaving one Democratic-leaning seat in Memphis. Longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, has spent the past several months urging the state legislature not to split his district. The other member who may be opposed to the plan is U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, who has said he could lose some of the wealthy, strongly Republican parts of his district. The Nashville Post has the story.

Nashville will bid to host both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions for the upcoming 2024 election cycle, the Tennessean reports. Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. CEO Butch Spyridon said yesterday it will bid on both conventions at the "request of and support from the Governor's Office." The governor’s press secretary confirmed the move saying, “We’ve got a lot to show off in Tennessee and are always willing to play host. We’d be glad to welcome either party’s convention to Nashville.”

Athens businessman and farmer Dennis Beavers, who worked on Republican Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and went on to serve as executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farms Services Agency in Tennessee, plans to run for the state Senate, the Times Free Press reports. In an interview with the paper, Beavers said he would run in District 11, the seat currently held by retiring Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville. Rep. Mark Hall, R-Cleveland, announced last month he also is running for the seat. The district covers Bradley, McMinn Meigs, Monroe and Polk counties but is expected to shift during legislative redistricting.

The Tennessee Republican Party has decided to drop judges and judicial candidates from a new rule that requires a fee to run in primary elections because of a recent ethics opinion, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The Judicial Ethics Committee issued an opinion on Sept. 7 that "generally prohibits a judge from paying an assessment to a political organization." The Republican State Executive Committee discussed the issue at length during its Dec. 4 meeting and subsequently voted this week to remove judges from the rule, which would have required judicial candidates to pay $500 to run as Republicans. Yahoo News has the story.

Hal Cato, one of Nashville's most prominent nonprofit executives, is considering a run for mayor in 2023, according to Axios Nashville. Cato is currently CEO of Thistle Farms, a program that helps women who are victims of human trafficking. He has served there for six years but says he will be leaving next year. Previously, Cato founded the volunteer nonprofit Hands on Nashville and served as the top executive at the youth counseling and support nonprofit Oasis Center. Current Nashville Mayor John Cooper has not announced yet if he will run for reelection.

Earlier this month, the National Republican Congressional Committee added U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, to its list of 2022 targets in a sign that national Republicans seem to be growing more optimistic they can win the Nashville-based district, the Nashville Post reports. That effort could be aided if state Republicans split Nashville into multiple congressional districts, potentially putting the city’s reliably Democratic electorate into GOP-friendly districts. Cooper has been warning about a possible split for months, even going to the state legislature to publicly ask lawmakers to leave his district intact. And while he faces the possibility of a redrawn district, Cooper also must weather a primary challenge from Odessa Kelly, his "most spirited" opponent yet according to the paper.

The Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP) will pay a $103,000 civil penalty to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) after an audit uncovered a series of financial reporting issues from the 2016 election cycle, the Nashville Post reports. Regulators found that TNDP improperly reported millions of dollars in contributions and kept lax records on employee time. The FEC accepted a conciliation agreement last month, in which the state party agreed to pay $103,000 over the next eight months. The first proposed fine was $352,000. TNDP Chair Hendrell Remus, who was not head of the party in 2016, said a former compliance contractor was at fault for the issues and that he is putting “processes in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”