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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Tinker received the endorsement of the city's Black Ministerial Association. At a June 2008 campaign event, then-Speaker
Nancy Pelosi called Cohen "the conscience of the freshman class", adding, "He is a progressive and an important member of the Transportation Committee, which provides the infrastructure for jobs that will make America more competitive in the global economy." The campaign quickly turned ugly, with Tinker putting together a raft of
negative ads. One attacked Cohen for voting against a proposal that would have removed a statue and the remains of
Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate lieutenant-general who was involved in the founding of the
Ku Klux Klan, from the Medical Center park. The ad falsely implied that Cohen had ties to the Klan by juxtaposing him with a white-clad Klansman. Another ad accused Cohen of "praying in our churches" while voting against school prayer during his tenure in the State Senate. Tinker's campaign later removed the ads from its
YouTube account amid criticism from a number of sources. On the day the primary was held,
Barack Obama denounced Tinker's ads, saying they "have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee." Harold Ford, Jr. also denounced the ads. The primary had been marred by antisemitic rhetoric for months before the August vote. In February 2008, Rev. George Brooks, a Tinker supporter, distributed literature in the district that stated that "Cohen and the Jews HATE Jesus" and urged the defeat of an "opponent of Christ and Christianity." Another minister, Robert Poindexter of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, said he was supporting Tinker because Cohen was "not black, and he can't represent me. That's just the bottom line." Cohen won the primary with 79% of the vote to Tinker's 19%. In his victory speech, he said his victory proved "Memphis has come a long, long way" from its racially divisive past. On September 10, 2008, while speaking on the House floor, Cohen compared Obama's work as a community organizer to
Jesus' work.
2010 Former Memphis Mayor
Willie Herenton challenged Cohen in the 2010 Democratic primary. In a guest column in the
Memphis Commercial Appeal, Herenton wrote that while he hoped the campaign would focus on issues rather than race or religion, "it remains a fact that the 9th congressional district provides the only real opportunity to elect a qualified African-American to the all-white 11-member delegation representing Tennessee in Washington." Herenton also denied having supported Cohen in his 2006 bid against Jake Ford, writing, "I did not support Steve Cohen the individual for the 9th congressional district. I supported an idea that was bigger than him as an individual. I supported the principle of fairness." During the 2006 campaign, Herenton endorsed Cohen, saying, "Steve Cohen is the best-qualified candidate for this leadership role". While Cohen's commanding win in the 2008 primary suggested that he had strong support among the district's African-American community, Herenton was easily his highest-profile opponent to date. In September 2009, Herenton drew controversy when he said in a radio interview that Cohen "really does not think very much of African-Americans" and that "[Cohen]'s played the black community well." In addition, Herenton's campaign manager Sidney Chism told
The New York Times that Cohen's Memphis-area seat "was set aside for people who look like me. It wasn't set aside for a Jew or a Christian. It was set aside so that blacks could have representation." The
National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) criticized Herenton for these remarks, calling them "unacceptable in a Democratic primary or anywhere in our political discourse." Obama endorsed Cohen for reelection, saying, "Congressman Cohen is a proven leader in the United States Congress and a strong voice for Tennessee. Together, we passed historic health care reform and together we're continuing the fight to renew our economy and bring jobs back to the American people. I am proud to stand with Steve and support his reelection to Congress." In the unofficial election results, Cohen won 79% of the vote to Herenton's 21%. It was the first time Herenton, elected to a record five terms as mayor, lost a race for public office. This all but assured Cohen a third term. In the general election, Cohen defeated Republican challenger Charlotte Bergmann, taking 74% of the vote to Bergmann's 25%.
2012 Cohen was challenged in the Democratic Primary by
Tomeka Hart, an African-American member of the Memphis School Board and Memphis Urban League President who was undefeated in elections up to that point. Cohen won the primary with 89.2% of the vote on August 2, 2012—the highest vote total in the district in recent history and the highest percentage vote for a white candidate running for office in a majority African-American district in history. Obama endorsed Cohen on April 5, 2012, saying, "Congressman Steve Cohen has worked with me on jobs bills, health care, and other issues of importance to the middle class. He also never fails to pitch me on the city of Memphis, whether it's Booker T. Washington High School, Memphis basketball, or barbecue. I urge you to vote for Steve Cohen, a tireless advocate for the 9th district". In the general election, Cohen defeated Republican businessman George Flinn, winning 75% of the vote.
Tenure Cohen is the most progressive member of the Tennessee delegation, and one of the most progressive congressmen ever to represent the state. He has a lifetime rating of 4.3 from the
American Conservative Union; for most of his tenure he has had the lowest ACU rating of any lawmaker from Tennessee. He is the first Jew to represent Tennessee in Congress, the first white Democrat to represent a significant portion of Memphis since freshman
George W. Grider was defeated by Republican
Dan Kuykendall in 1966, the first Jew to represent a majority black district,
Book curriculum In January 2022, when the board of trustees of
McMinn County Schools in Tennessee, in a 10-0 decision, removed the
Pulitzer Prize-winning
Holocaust graphic novel
Maus from its curriculum for
8th grade English classes, overriding a state curriculum decision, Cohen was critical of the decision and said he hoped to see it reversed.
Budget Cohen voted against prioritizing spending in the event the
debt limit was reached.
Energy To expand funds available for research and development of alternative energy sources, Cohen supports an excess profits tax on oil companies. He supports investments in solar, wind, and hybrid cars. He supports environmental conservation. He opposed a resolution that would bar the
EPA from regulating emissions, and opposes allowing offshore drilling. He has voted several times to extend healthcare coverage through federal funding.
Immigration In June 2017, Cohen voted against the
No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which would have penalized
jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and expanded mandatory detention requirements.
Cannabis Cohen has supported a number of efforts to
legalize cannabis in Congress. He cosponsored the
Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act when it was first introduced in 2011 and every year that it has subsequently been introduced. Other legislation he has cosponsored include the
Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act,
Marijuana Justice Act,
Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, and the
Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. Cohen has also introduced the
CARERS Act in multiple years (2015, 2017, and 2019) to
legalize the medical use of cannabis. He was the headline speaker at
Marijuana Policy Project's annual gala in January 2010.
Government reform Cohen supports limiting campaign donations and disclosure of amounts coming from lobbyists. On February 27, 2007, Cohen introduced a resolution in the House that apologizes for
African-American slavery and the system of
Jim Crow laws that persisted for 100 years after the abolition of slavery. He noted that no president has officially apologized for allowing slavery. The bill had 36 cosponsors. The resolution passed on July 29, 2008, marking the first time a branch of the federal government had officially apologized for the institution of slavery and its aftermath. Cohen was honored with the D. Emelio Castelar Work Recognition Award by the Vida Foundation in Madrid, Spain for his work on the slavery apology bill and served as the keynote speaker for their international symposium on the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. Cohen supported the
Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act (H.R. 2919; 113th Congress), a bill that would require the
Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) to prepare a report each year on the amount of fees and other expenses awarded by federal courts to nonfederal entities when they prevail in a case against the United States. An original co-sponsor of the bill, he argued that "Americans have a right to know what their government is doing and their government has a duty to be as transparent as possible." Cohen is one of the 19 members of the House Committee on the Judiciary who voted against H.J. Res. 11 118th Congress which would have allowed a floor vote on term limits for Congress. Recent surveys by termlimits.com show 83% of Americans favor term limits for Congress.
Civil rights Cohen received the
American Bar Association's Day Award along with Representative
John Lewis and Senators
Olympia Snowe and
Richard Lugar. The ABA recognized him for his efforts to improve access to the justice system by providing more funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal counsel for low income individuals and families. Cohen dedicated the award to Dr. Benjamin Hooks and Dr. Dorothy Height during his acceptance speech. Cohen sponsored the SPEECH Act banning the practice of
libel tourism, rendering
libel lawsuits unenforceable if the judgments were issued in a nation where the legal standard for libel is set lower than our own. The Senate Sponsor was Senator
Patrick Leahy. The bill passed both houses of Congress in July 2010 and was signed into law by President
Barack Obama the following month.
Abortion Cohen supports legal
abortion. He opposes the repeal of federally funded abortions and supports a focus on preventing pregnancies with the availability of emergency contraceptives if needed.
Iraq War In 2006, he opposed Republican policy regarding the
War in Iraq. Cohen made a trip to
Iraq from October 4 to 7, 2007, as part of a congressional fact-finding delegation. He said that his impression was that Iraq was "not in very good shape" and that its economy has been "ravaged." Cohen met with soldiers who complained that long deployments are causing divorces. When he raised this concern with General
David Petraeus, Petraeus told him that the claims were being exaggerated. After meeting with Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki, Cohen described him as "overly optimistic", noting his "bizarre" statement that sectarian war in Iraq was over.
Afghanistan infrastructure In 2012, Cohen sponsored the Cohen Amendment reducing infrastructure funding to
Afghanistan. The Afghan Infrastructure Fund has been plagued with problems, with millions of taxpayer dollars disappearing. When another member of the House said the funding was essential to bringing our troops home, Cohen replied, "The truth of the matter is that it has nothing to do with whether we can bring our troops home or not. The truth is that we cannot account for where this money is going, and it is likely going into the pockets of the top one-half of one percent in Afghanistan. The infrastructure holds up well enough there to deploy and redeploy our troops, so it's good enough to bring them home permanently." The amendment passed 228–191 and is the first piece of legislation reducing funding to Afghanistan.
National Guard & Reservist Debt Relief Extension Act Cohen sponsored and co-authored, along with
J. Randy Forbes,
Dana Rohrabacher,
Jan Schakowsky, and
Jerrold Nadler, The National Guard & Reservist Debt Relief Extension Act, which allows qualifying members of the National Guard and reservists to bypass the often onerous means testing required under current bankruptcy law if their financial hardships were caused by deployment. President Obama signed the bill into law in December 2011.
Judicial recommendations House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assigned Cohen to serve on the
House Judiciary Committee, which was his first choice for a committee assignment, as well as the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. As there are no Democratic U.S. Senators from Tennessee, President Obama asked Cohen to recommend judicial nominees. Cohen recommended
Bernice Donald for the
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals alongside
John Fowlkes and
Sheryl H. Lipman for District Court Judge for the
Western District of Tennessee. All three have been confirmed by the
United States Senate.
TVA recommendations Cohen recommended Bishop William Graves, V. Lynn Evans, and Ron Walter for the Board of Directors at the
Tennessee Valley Authority. All three were nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate. They are the only African-Americans on the TVA Board. Evans and Walter, both from Shelby County, represent the only time two residents of Shelby County have been on the TVA Board simultaneously.
U.S. Attorney Cohen recommended Ed Stanton III to President Obama as
U.S. Attorney for Tennessee's Western District. Stanton was confirmed in August 2010.
Votes Cohen has sponsored 16 bills since January 4, 2007, of which 13 died in committee and two were enacted. He has co-sponsored 762 bills during the same period.
Big River Crossing Cohen announced in 2012 that
Memphis was to be awarded a $15 million TIGER IV Grant for the Main Street to Main Street Multi-Modal Connector Project. The project added a dedicated sidewalk to the
Harahan Bridge connecting
Tennessee to
Arkansas, allowing people to walk or bicycle over the
Mississippi River. The project drew praise from many in the business community, including
FedEx founder
Fred Smith. Construction of the walkway, which was named the Big River Crossing was completed in 2016.
Helsinki Commission Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi appointed Cohen to the Helsinki Commission in 2011. "Congressman Steve Cohen is a leader in promoting civil rights and opportunity of all Americans, and he brings this same passion to the promotion of human rights and democracy around the world", she said. "The
Helsinki Commission is a focal point for security and cooperation among nations and leaders, and Congressman Cohen's voice is sure to strengthen and advance the commission's work."
Armenian issues Although his family has no knowledge of any
Turkish heritage, Cohen's mother's
birth certificate states his maternal grandfather was born in
Turkey when it was part of the
Ottoman Empire. He is a member of the Congressional Caucus on US Turkish Relations and Turkish Americans. He had consistently opposed congressional recognition of the
Armenian genocide on pragmatic grounds, believing that recognizing it officially in Congress would damage relations with Turkey. On August 6, 2008, one day before the Democratic Congressional Primary, a confrontation between California-based documentary filmmaker Peter Musurlian and Cohen erupted. During a press conference at Cohen's home, Musurlian was asked to leave by Cohen's staff and Cohen himself. Cohen then put both hands on Musurlian's arms and forced him out of the home after Musurlian refused to leave. In October 2017,
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the
Armenian National Committee of America, said, "Reps. Stivers, Cohen, and Sessions—in stripping out language about the Armenian Genocide from a bill about Turkish-Armenian relations—are, effectively, carrying Turkish President
Erdogan’s water in Washington, advancing his shameful denial campaign even as he’s doubling down on his government’s anti-American actions and attitudes."
2011 Nazi controversy In a speech on the House floor on January 18, 2011, Cohen said of the Republican effort to repeal the
Obama administration's
health care reform law: They say it's a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like
Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually, people believe it. Like
blood libel. That's the same kind of thing. The Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the
Holocaust. You tell a lie over and over again. And we've heard on this floor, government takeover of health care. According to Cohen's hometown paper, the
Memphis Commercial Appeal, he was "accused of upsetting the newfound atmosphere of civility in the House" following the
assassination attempt on Representative
Gabby Giffords. Republicans, as well as many in the media and in the Jewish community, expressed outrage and demanded that Democrats condemn Cohen's comment. Ron Kampeas of the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote that "someone needs to carpet Cohen, pronto, for his rhetoric." His remarks were also condemned by the
National Jewish Democratic Council, which issued a statement saying that "invoking the
Holocaust to make a political point is never acceptable—on either side of the aisle. Cohen's comments and similar comments made by others are not helpful as our leaders and citizens conduct a joint effort to advance civility in our political discourse. We implore Cohen and all our leaders to choose their words carefully as we move forward." In response, Israeli journalist
Caroline Glick wrote in an opinion column in the
Jerusalem Post: "Radical leftist representatives who happen to be Jewish, like
Jan Schakowsky of suburban Chicago and Steve Cohen of Memphis, are joining Netanyahu's boycotters in order to give the patina of Jewish legitimacy to an administration whose central foreign policy threatens the viability of the Jewish state." Cohen later attended a separate speech given by Netanyahu in 2024.
Impeachment matters In 2009, Cohen was in the unanimous majority voting to adopt all four
articles of
impeachment against Judge
Samuel B. Kent. All House members participating in the vote voted in favor of each article, with the exception of one member who
voted "present" on the fourth article. In 2010, he was also in the unanimous majority that approved all four articles of impeachment against Judge
Thomas Porteous. He was also appointed and served as an impeachment manager for Porteous's impeachment trial. On August 17, 2017, Cohen stated plans to bring forward articles of impeachment against President
Donald Trump owing to Trump's series of comments about a
white nationalist rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia, five days earlier. Cohen stated on his website: I believe the President should be impeached and removed from office. Instead of unequivocally condemning hateful actions by neo-Nazis, white nationalists and Klansmen following a national tragedy, the President said "there were very fine people on both sides." There are no good Nazis. There are no good Klansmen. On August 15, Trump had commented on the rally, saying that there were "very fine people on both sides" but explicitly excluding "the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally". On December 18, 2019, Cohen voted for both articles of impeachment against Trump in
Trump's first impeachment. On June 30, 2020, Cohen and 35 cosponsors introduced a resolution (H.Res.1032) on the House floor calling for the impeachment of Attorney General
William Barr for many instances of alleged malfeasance. On January 13, 2021, Cohen voted for the article of impeachment in the
second impeachment of Donald Trump.
"Holocaust distortion" On April 25, 2018, 57 House members, including Cohen, They criticized Poland's
new Holocaust law, which would criminalize accusing Poles of complicity in the Holocaust, and Ukraine's
2015 memory laws glorifying the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and its pro-Nazi leaders, such as
Roman Shukhevych.
Russian meddling In July 2018, Cohen said that
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections amounted to "an act of war", which the U.S. needed to counter with "cyber attacks against the
Kremlin". Speaking to Hill.TV's
Buck Sexton and
Krystal Ball, he argued that
Russia "invaded our country" by attacking free elections, and thus should be "crippled" by a retributory cyber attack that would have "made Russian society valueless".
Israel Cohen voted to provide Israel with support following the
October 7 attacks.
Media Cohen has been interviewed on
The Colbert Report and is a frequent guest on
MSNBC's
Up with Chris Hayes and
Current TV's
The Young Turks. He has also appeared on
Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, on which Ventura confronted him for co-sponsoring H.R. 645, which directs the
Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers, otherwise known as
Federal Emergency Management Agency camp facilities, on military installations. Cohen became the subject of media attention when during the 2013 State of the Union address he accidentally publicly tweeted at model Victoria Brink, "pleased u r watching. ilu", and then deleted the tweet. He later explained to reporters that Brink was his daughter and that he had only learned of her three years prior. In July 2013, CNN facilitated a DNA test with Cohen, Brink, and the man who raised her, John Brink. The test revealed that John Brink was in fact Victoria's father. Cohen said in a statement, "I was stunned and dismayed." During a 2018 open congressional hearing of FBI agent
Peter Strzok, Cohen said, "If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would... This has been an attack on you and a way to attack Mr. Mueller and the investigation that is to get at Russian collusion involved in our election." Veteran groups criticized his comment, as the
Purple Heart is given to wounded soldiers. Cohen appeared as himself in the
5th episode of the second season of The Rehearsal when
Nathan Fielder came to speak to him.
Committee assignments For the
119th Congress: •
Committee on the Judiciary •
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government •
Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance •
Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement •
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence •
Subcommittee on National Security Agency and Cyber •
Subcommittee on Open Source Intelligence Caucus memberships • Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans •
Congressional Progressive Caucus (until 2024) • Congressional UK Caucus •
Congressional Equality Caucus •
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus •
Congressional Arts Caucus •
House Baltic Caucus •
Congressional Freethought Caucus •
Congressional Ukraine Caucus •
U.S.-Japan Caucus •
Rare Disease Caucus ==Electoral history==