Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a Jewish lawmaker who represented a majority black district in Tennessee for nearly two decades, said on Friday that he does not plan to seek re-election after Republicans carved up the state’s last Democratic-leaning district.
“This is by far the most difficult moment I’ve had as an elected official,” Cohen, who was first elected to the House in 2006 after 24 years in the state Senate, told reporters in his Washington office.
“I don’t want to quit. I’m not a quitter,” he said. “But these districts were drawn to beat me. They were drawn to defeat me.”
Cohen was the first Jew elected to the House from Tennessee.
The state was one of several in the south where GOP-controlled legislators moved to eliminate majority-minority districts after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act earlier this month and limited the use of race to draw district lines.
Several lawsuits have been filed, and Cohen said that he would run again if the courts overturned the gerrymander.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) praised Cohen as “a powerful champion for civil rights, leading passage of a resolution issuing the first formal apology for slavery in the U.S.”
Cohen used his perch on the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on “the Voting Rights Act, police reform and racial justice, reaffirming his commitment to making true America’s promise of equality and justice for all,” Jeffries stated.
After first winning election in 2006, Cohen regularly defeated black primary opponents, including the former mayor of Memphis.
This year, both parties have participated in unprecedented, mid-decade redistricting, which began after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded that Texas redraw its district lines to create more Republican seats.
The effort accelerated in recent days after the Supreme Court decision that overturned the landmark civil rights legislation, giving free reign to GOP-led legislators in southern states to eliminate districts with a majority of black residents.
