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Tennessee was not covered by the original Voting Rights Act trigger, and has not subsequently fallen under preclearance. Relatively high rates of registration and participation in the state followed the elimination of the poll tax in the early 1950s, and by the early 1960s Tennessee had participation in elections more typical of a border south or midwestern state. But by 1980, the Tennessee advantage had been eliminated. For instance, black voter registration in Mississippi for the last quarter century exceeds that in Tennessee in every year except 1994 when the Tennessee advantage is an insignificant 0.1 percentage points.

The state had a high degree of black voter participation in the early 1960s, but the advantage the state enjoyed over most of the rest of the South in black voter participation during the 1970s and 1980s have been lost. Tennessee ranks behind Mississippi and the median southern state among the seven originally subject to section 5 in terms of black voter participation. There is progress in the election of black officials, though the state Senate lags the state House in approaching proportionality for black representation. Most gains in black office holding since the 1980s have been in municipal government. Race structures vote choice under some circumstances. In both the most-heavily black urban county and the most-heavily black rural county, white voter preferences for Republicans up-ticket is pronounced. However incumbent Democrats do well among white voters especially when they have ties to the local community.

Edward Blum is a visiting fellow at AEI.