Stephen Ira Cohen (born May 24, 1949) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative from , a majority-minority district centered in Memphis, since 2007. Previously, he served in the Tennessee Senate from 1983 to 2006. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
A progressive, Cohen was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006. He is the first Jewish person to represent Tennessee in Congress, and one of the few Jewish members of Congress to have represented a majority-black district. He has repeatedly faced electoral challenges from opponents who argued that the district should be represented by a black lawmaker, but has consistently won reelection since 2006.
Since 2023, Cohen is the only Democrat in Tennessee's congressional delegation. Cohen will retire from the House in 2027 after announcing that he would not run for re-election in 2026 due to the Tennessee redistricting.
Early life and education Cohen was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 24, 1949, the son of Genevieve (née Goldsand) and pediatrician Morris David Cohen. He has two older brothers, Michael Corey and Martin D. Cohen. He is a fourth-generation Memphian and a grandson of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, Poland and Turkey.http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/reps/cohen.htm One of his grandfathers owned a newsstand.Yo Vey! (subscribers only), Jonathan Martin, The New Republic, September 25, 2006. Cohen contracted polio when he was five, and the disease caused him to shift his attention from sports to politics at an early age. When he was 11, John F. Kennedy made a campaign stop in Memphis, and Cohen took a picture of Kennedy sitting on a convertible. Cohen describes Kennedy as his political hero; the picture still hangs in his office.
In 1961, Cohen's family moved to Coral Gables, Florida, where his father took a residency in psychiatry at the University of Miami. From 1964 to 1966, the Cohens lived in Pasadena, California, where Dr. Cohen completed a fellowship in pediatric psychiatry at the University of Southern California. Cohen, who had been attending Polytechnic School in Pasadena, returned to Florida in 1966 to graduate from Coral Gables Senior High School before returning to Memphis where his father had established his private psychiatry practice.
Cohen graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. At Vanderbilt, he was a member of the Alpha Gamma chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. In 1973, he graduated from the Memphis State University College of Law (now the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law) with a Juris Doctor.
Personal life Cohen is unmarried and lives in a Midtown neighborhood.Amy Argetsinger. (18 July 2013). "Rep. Steve Cohen’s ‘secret daughter’ is not his daughter, DNA tests show ". The Washington Post website Retrieved 4 November 2021.
Early career From 1978 to 2006, Cohen was the sole practitioner of his own law firm, practicing civil and criminal law.
While serving as a legal advisor for the Memphis Police Department from 1975 to 1978, Cohen rose to political prominence when he was elected vice president of the Tennessee Constitutional Convention of 1977 at age 27."Elder Statesmen", Jackson Baker, Memphis Flyer, June 14, 2006. Cohen was then elected to serve as a commissioner on the Shelby County Commission, serving from 1978 to 1980. During his time at the commission, he was instrumental in the creation of The Med, a community-funded regional hospital. In 1980, Cohen served as an interim Shelby County General Sessions Court judge. He has also served as a delegate to the 1980, 1992, and 2004 through 2016 Democratic National Conventions.
Tennessee Senate Cohen was elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1982, representing the 30th district, which includes parts of Memphis. He held that position for 24 years.
For 18 years, Cohen strove to repeal the ban on lotteries in the Tennessee State Constitution. His efforts were successful in 2002, and a state lottery program designed to provide college scholarships for Tennessee students was adopted the following year. The lottery program is the best-known accomplishment of Cohen's Senate career, having raised over $2 billion for scholarships, afterschool programs, pre-K, technical center grants, and energy-saving capital programs in K-12 schools as of 2012. Cohen also sponsored legislation relating to expansion of community access to healthcare, protection of animal rights, reinstatement of voting rights, graduated driver licenses, and funding for the arts. He sponsored the T-Bo law, the nation's first-ever statute providing for damages up to $5,000 in cases of intentional or negligent acts resulting in the death of a companion dog or cat. He has won six awards from the Humane Society as of 2011.
Cohen sponsored and passed legislation providing funding for the construction of the Autozone Park baseball stadium, creating the Holocaust Commission, and providing permanent funding for the arts with Tennesseans for the Arts license plates. He was awarded the Bill of Rights Award from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Bird Dog Award for Ethics from Tennessee Common Cause in 1992.
In 1994, Cohen ran for governor of Tennessee, but finished fifth in the Democratic primary with 4.95% of the vote. The nominee, Phil Bredesen, lost the general election to U.S. Representative Don Sundquist, but succeeded Sundquist in 2003.
In March 2005, Cohen was one of three members of the Tennessee Senate to vote against the Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment, which prohibited same-sex marriage statewide and was approved by Tennessee voters via a referendum in November 2006., Skip Cauthorn, The City Paper, March 1, 2005. During debate on the amendment, he offered several amendments to it, all of which failed, including the proposed addition of an "adultery clause", which said, "Adultery is deemed to be a threat to the institution of marriage and contrary to public policy in Tennessee.", Skip Cauthorn, The City Paper, April 15, 2005. Cohen won the Political Leadership Award from the Human Rights Campaign.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 1996 Cohen ran for the United States House of Representatives seat for the 9th district in 1996, when 22-year incumbent Harold Ford, Sr. retired. The then 26-year-old Harold Ford, Jr., the incumbent's son, was his opponent in the Democratic primary. Reflecting on the race, Cohen said, "I'd spent 14 years in the [state] Senate, had the experience, and didn't like the idea of [the seat] being handed down like an heirloom."
Cohen lost the primary to Ford by 25 points. Noting that Ford, an African-American, did much better than Cohen in majority black precincts despite his inexperience, Cohen said, "It is impossible for a person who is not African American to get a large vote in the African American community... against a substantial candidate. The fact is, I am white, and it doesn't seem to matter what you do." Later, he admitted that his statement was "impolitic" but also noted that "race is still an important factor in voting."
Cohen returned to the State Senate after the election. Tennessee state senators serve staggered four-year terms, and Cohen did not have to run for reelection to the Senate until 1998.
2006 In 2006, Cohen ran again for the 9th district seat; Ford was not running for reelection. Cohen was the first candidate in the race with significant name recognition outside the Memphis area, but had 14 opponents in the primary. The Commercial Appeal, Memphis's daily newspaper, endorsed Cohen in the race.From the editorial board: Our recommendations in August 3 races, The Commercial Appeal, July 28, 2006. The crowded primary was largely due to the district's demographics. The 9th is a heavily Democratic, black-majority district, and it was considered very likely that whoever won the primary would be the district's next representative.
Cohen won the August 3 primary by a 4,000-vote margin, despite being outspent 2 to 1 by the runner-up. In fact, six Democrats raised more money than he did. He carried many of the district's predominantly black precincts by healthy margins. He faced Republican Mark White and independent Jake Ford (the younger brother of Harold Ford, Jr.) in the general election in November.Steve Cohen wins; will face Jake Ford, Mark White in November, Halimah Abdullah, The Commercial Appeal, August 3, 2006.
Though the ninth district is heavily Democrat, Jake Ford was seen as a serious contender for the race because of his significant name recognition among Memphis's black voters. Ford had skipped the Democratic primary because he felt it was too crowded, but said he would caucus with the Democrats if elected. The Ford family has been a significant force in Memphis's black community since the days of E.H. Crump. It seemed that the real race was between Cohen and Ford. White was not a serious factor, and would have faced nearly impossible odds even in a two-way race with Cohen.
Cohen was endorsed by the mayor of Memphis, W. W. Herenton, and the mayor of Shelby County, A.C. Wharton, both of whom are black and members of the Democratic Party.Mayors endorse Cohen, Halimah Abdullah and Lawrence Buser, The Commercial Appeal, September 7, 2006. He was also endorsed by many local Democratic activists who had long felt that Harold Ford, Jr. was too moderate.
But many of the city's politically influential black pastors refused to support Cohen, and the area Black Ministers Association overwhelmingly voted to endorse Jake Ford. The Ford family itself was split. While Harold Ford, Jr. remained neutral (despite rumors of collusion between the brothers' campaigns), their cousin Joe Ford, Jr., an entertainment lawyer, strongly endorsed Cohen after finishing third in the primary. Harold Ford, Sr. strongly supported his younger son.
On October 8, 2006, Cohen, Ford, and White participated in a televised debate in Memphis. Issues discussed included Iraq, medical marijuana, education, and the Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment.9th District rivals spar over war, pot, politics, by Alex Doniach, The Commercial Appeal, October 9, 2006 Ford attacked Cohen's record in the State Senate, including his opposition to the Marriage Protection Amendment, support for medical marijuana, and his voting attendance record. Cohen responded by standing by his public record, pointing out Ford's lack of experience in public office, and indicating that Ford had been to jail and had dropped out of high school.
Cohen won the election by a decisive margin, with 60% of the vote to Ford's 22% and White's 18%. Sixty percent of Cohen's votes were from African-Americans.
2008
Despite Cohen's strong performance in the black community, many of the city's politically active black leaders felt chagrined at being represented by him. Besides some sentiment that the 9th should be represented by a black Democrat, his socially liberal views also gave them pause. For example, Cohen's support for a hate-crimes bill drew particularly strong opposition from most of the city's black ministers because it included a sexual orientation provision. Cohen noted that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus voted for the bill, and Harold Ford, Jr. had voted for it in the previous Congress. Still, many of the city's black ministers tried to rally behind a consensus black candidate to challenge Cohen in the Democratic primary.In Memphis, Debate Over a White Representative. All Things Considered, September 28, 2007
Cohen faced four challengers in the August 7 primary. His major opponent was Nikki Tinker, a lawyer who had finished second to Cohen in the 2006 primary and a former aide to Harold Ford, Jr.O' Brien, Michael. Cohen defeats Tinker in Tennessee primary The Hill, August 7, 2008. Tinker received the endorsement of the city's Black Ministerial Association.