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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen has abandoned his reelection bid in the redrawn 9th Congressional District or any of Tennessee’s other congressional districts.

The Memphis Democrat made the announcement Friday, May 15, in Washington, D.C., two hours ahead of the noon Friday, May 15, filing deadline for the new districts.
“This is the most difficult moment I’ve had as an elected official,” Cohen said from his Washington office in a press conference carried by C-SPAN as he announced he had withdrawn his qualifying petition.

Tennessee’s new congressional district map — which state lawmakers enacted following a three-day special session last week — carves the Memphis 9th District into thirds. 
Under the new map, the 5th, 8th and 9th Congressional Districts take in parts of Memphis as well as counties in rural West Tennessee all the way to the Kentucky state line and into middle Tennessee, including Williamson County.
Cohen said he considered running in one of two other districts that include portions of the city. But he said, “There’s no commonality of issues and purposes between Williamson County and Orange Mound.”
Cohen will leave the House in January after 10 terms and 20 years. He won the congressional seat in 2006 after first running for it unsuccessfully in 1996. Before that, he served in the state Senate for 24 years after his 1982 election.
Cohen was locked in a Democratic primary duel with state Rep. Justin J. Pearson ahead of the redistricting.