Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, of Memphis, Tennessee, declared on May 15 he was ending his reelection bid after representing it for 19 years.
Cohen said his decision was motivated by the Tennessee General Assembly’s splitting the Ninth Congressional District, in which he represented, into three GOP-leaning districts last week.
Cohen said he considered running in one of the new districts but that the new districts had “no commonality” with the district he currently represents. State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Democrat, is running for the new District 9 seat and was previously primarying Cohen.
“I don’t want to quit. I’m not a quitter. But these districts were drawn to beat me, they were drawn to defeat me,” Cohen told reporters on Friday in his Washington office….
Rep. Cohen Drops Reelection Bid After State Redistricting
