Cohen’s majority-minority district is being split into three.
Rep. Steve Cohen, a longtime Tennessee Democrat, announced Friday he will not seek reelection and instead retire at the end of his term, after his Memphis district was carved up in the state assembly’s redistricting effort.
«This is by far the most difficult moment I’ve had as an elected official,» Cohen said. his voice choked with emotion as he announced he sent a letter Friday to the state capital asking not to appear on the ballot.
«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 said.
Cohen is the first Democratic representative to opt for retirement after the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callaiswhich held that race-conscious redistricting under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional.
After the ruling, Tennessee state laws passed a new congressional map that could allow Republicans to flip the state’s lone Democratic-held seat.
Cohen’s majority-minority district, Tennessee’s 9th congressional district, is being split into three. Cohen has sued over the new map in court, as have several civil rights groups.
Rep. Steve Cohen pauses while speaking during a news conference in his office on Capitol Hill, May 15, 2026 in Washington.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
«Butchered,» Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat whose district shares a border with Cohen, told ABC News about the Tennessee district.
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«He’s represented a majority-minority district as a white person. He’s been well. He’s had a consistent vote on behalf of his constituents, and all of a sudden, the court says take that opportunity away,» Thompson said of Cohen. «But worse than that, Tennessee legislature split Memphis in three different ways. So now, as far as the Congress is concerned, there’s no real community of interest in Memphis, because they’re so divided.»
Cohen is the 22nd House Democrat to opt against reelection to the House this midterm election cycle.
«Memphis is my home, and that’s what I fight for, and I want to do it again. If I get the chance, I’ll do it, but otherwise I’ll be retiring from Congress, and from, I guess, from public life,» Cohen said.
