He made the decision in light of the Tennessee legislature’s redistricting, which affected his district in the Memphis area. Cohen, 76, is Tennessee’s only Democrat in Congress. He said he’ll be retiring from public life.
“This is by far the most difficult moment I’ve had as an elected official,” Cohen said as he opened his remarks.
He said he “considered” running in one of the new districts, but said they are “nothing like the ninth district that I’ve represented.” Cohen is a fourth-generation resident of the Memphis area.
“I’ve had the great honor to represent the ninth district for the last 19 and a half years. And it’s been a district that is a majority African-American district,” he said.
The redistricting vote by the GOP-dominated state legislature last week drew protests for splitting the Memphis population into parts of several different districts that lean more Republican.
In his time in Congress, Cohen has served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, focusing on issues like civil rights and policing reform.
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