Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen to retire after Republican-led redistricting in Tennessee

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., announced Friday that he won’t be running for re-election this fall, after a redistricting push in Tennessee that carved up his Memphis-based district. “This morning, I announced my decision not to run in any of the three gerrymandered congressional districts carved out of the 9th District that I have represented for more than 19 years,” Cohen said in a statement. “Last week Tennessee Republicans silenced the Black vote here in Memphis to make Republican victories likely,” the congressman added. The new district map, which the Republican-led state Legislature and GOP Gov. Bill Lee enacted last week, divides Cohen’s majority-Black district three ways. Tennessee’s new map comes just weeks after the Supreme Court’s decision in Callais v. Louisiana, which gutted parts of the Voting Rights Act and sharply limited the use of race in drawing congressional districts. In the wake of the decision, lawmakers in several states across the South have moved forward with redistricting in ways that eliminate some majority-Black, Democratic-held seats in favor of creating GOP-leaning ones. Democrats this week warned that a third of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus could be voted out as a result of the redistricting push. Cohen’s retirement is the 59th by a sitting House member during this election cycle — the second-highest total since 1930, according to NBC News analysis. Cohen, in his statement, added that he would reconsider his decision to suspend his campaign if Democrats won legal challenges against Tennessee’s new map. “We are still fighting, and if we prevail in the courts and the 9th District remains intact, I will remain a candidate and be proud to represent you for another two years,” he said. Cohen was facing a primary election challenger, Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson, who has not dropped out of the race in the wake of redistricting. Pearson is known nationally as a member of the “Tennessee Three,” a group of Democratic state lawmakers who protested gun violence on the state House floor in 2023 and were later expelled from the state legislator. He was later reinstated to his post as a state representative.