Steve Cohen
Tennessee Democrat; 9th District eliminated by post-Callais map signed 7 May 2026; sat since 2007.
Last refreshed: 19 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Is there any legal path to restore Cohen's Memphis district before the 2026 elections?
Timeline for Steve Cohen
Mentioned in: Callais draws out a Black incumbent
US Midterms 2026Mentioned in: Sabato moves six House seats toward Democrats
US Midterms 2026Tennessee signs map carving Memphis three ways
US Midterms 2026Four states queue maps after Callais ruling
US Midterms 2026Who is Steve Cohen and why is his seat under threat?
What does the Callais ruling mean for majority-minority congressional districts?
How long has Steve Cohen represented Memphis?
Background
Steve Cohen holds Tennessee's 9th congressional district, the Memphis seat he has represented since 2007. He is the state's only Democratic congressman. Within 24 hours of the Louisiana v. Callais ruling on 29 April 2026, Governor Bill Lee called an extraordinary legislative session specifically targeting TN-9, making Cohen the immediate focus of Tennessee's post-Callais redistricting cascade.
TN-9 is a majority-minority district centred on Memphis and Shelby County, drawn in part to comply with VRA Section 2 requirements. Callais's undermining of those requirements gives Tennessee Republicans a legal opening that was not available in previous redistricting cycles. Cohen's long tenure and seniority as a senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee makes him a symbolically significant target.
Cohen's situation is the sharpest individual test of what Callais means in practice: a sitting congressman whose district was explicitly protected by a law the Supreme Court has now partially dismantled.
Governor Lee signed Tennessee's new congressional map on 7 May 2026, formally eliminating Cohen's 9th district. Memphis and Shelby County are now carved across the 5th, 8th and 9th districts, all Republican-leaning . Cohen held TN-9 from 2007 through 2024, winning re-election consistently in a majority-Black district that VRA Section 2 case law had protected from dilution challenges. Callais removed that protection on 29 April; the Tennessee legislature moved within days.
Cohen is the most concrete individual casualty of the post-Callais wave. Unlike South Carolina — where the state Senate blocked redistricting despite Republican pressure — Tennessee completed the full legislative and gubernatorial cycle within eight days of the Supreme Court ruling. Cohen has represented one of the most reliably Democratic constituencies in Tennessee; his district's elimination converts up to two House seats from Democratic-leaning to SAFE Republican without a single vote being cast. Every Democratic 2026 redistricting track has now closed , meaning no counterbalancing maps will offset the TN-9 elimination this cycle.