Steve Cohen

By Amy B Wang

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., announced Friday that he is ending his reelection campaign after the state General Assembly broke up his existing, majority-Black district into three that favor Republicans.

Cohen, who is 76 and White, is the only Democrat in Tennessee’s delegation and represents the state’s 9th Congressional District, which covers most of Memphis and its suburbs.

First elected to the House in 2006, Cohen had been running for an 11th term when the Supreme Court limited a key provision of the Voting Rights Act last month, kicking off a scramble by Republicans in Tennessee and other Southern states to redraw their congressional maps.

“The Ninth District that they have under those new lines is nothing like the Ninth District that I’ve represented,” Cohen told reporters Friday, noting that he had survived significant primary challenges for his seat through nearly two decades.

“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 added.

Cohen warned Friday that Tennessee would likely have no Democratic representation after he leaves office and criticized the redistricting effort as a maneuver “for Donald Trump to get one more vote.” Cohen, who is part of legal efforts to challenge the redrawn maps in court, said he would run again if his old district were restored.

In a statement Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., praised Cohen’s record of fighting for civil rights, including leading the passage of a resolution that issued the first formal apology for slavery in the United States.

“The City of Memphis, the Congress and the nation are better because of Steve’s commitment to making a difference,” Jeffries said. “He will be deeply missed by the House Democratic Caucus family in the next Congress, and we all wish him the very best in this next chapter.”