Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) announced Friday he would not seek reelection later this year, after his Memphis-based House seat was dismantled amid the redistricting battles sweeping the country after last month’s Supreme Court decision.
Cohen told reporters that his decision not to run was by far the most difficult moment he’s had as an elected official.
The 10-term House incumbent’s decision to end his campaign came days after Tennessee’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved a new congressional map that eliminated Cohen’s majority Black district, likely securing them an all-GOP federal delegation.
Tennessee is one of a handful of GOP-controlled states in the South racing to dismantle majority Black seats after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act.
“Since my first election in 2006, I’ve had nine reelects and I haven’t lost a precinct in my reelects,” he said. “I think that’s unique in Congress, but it’s unique in America that an African American majority district has elected a white guy.”
Cohen has been the sole Democratic representative in Tennessee’s nine-member U.S. House delegation for the last several years. Before the state’s map was redrawn, Cohen was in a tough primary race against 31-year-old state Rep. Justin Pearson. Pearson has said he will continue with his campaign, but the new district is dramatically redder.
“I’m not a quitter. But these districts were drawn to beat me,” Cohen said.
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