Lone Tennessee U.S. House Democrat, Cohen, says he’s done

By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee’s lone Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Friday morning he will not seek reelection in the newly drawn 9th Congressional District.

If courts keep the 9th intact through any of at least four lawsuits, he said he would seek to retain his seat.

Cohen, who turns 77 on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, said he would otherwise retire from public life. He served 24 years in the state Senate prior to the 10 terms in Washington representing the Memphis area.

Multiple litigations – one with Cohen’s name on it – have been filed in response to the Legislature’s new map signed into law last week by second-term Republican Gov. Bill Lee. A judge Thursday sided with the state, keeping the August elections on track with new deadlines.

The 9th Congressional District as Cohen served has been split three ways. State Rep. Justin Pearson had been considered his most serious threat to reelection and remains in pursuit of a seat in Washington.

“If the courts will give two more years to that district … I will run for that office,” Cohen said.

He called the decision to step away his most difficult as an elected official.

Congressional redistricting in the middle of the decade was ignited last year by second-term Republican President Donald Trump’s request to his party colleagues in Texas. Cohen called the president “a gangster” and the redistricting surge a “gangster move.”

“I don’t want to quit,” he said. “I’m not a quitter. But these districts were drawn to beat me.”

His move is similar to that of former Rep. Jim Cooper. Four years ago, after congressional map redrawing, the Democrat representing the Nashville area said he would not move forward after the 5th Congressional District was split into three districts.

In the state Senate, Cohen is credited with helping open an $8 billion gateway for children in the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship.

In the U.S. House, he’s credited with a pivotal role in passage of the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 legislation overhauling American healthcare.