Dem Rep To Retire Due To GOP Shredding Of District

Politico reports:

Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, a 32-year veteran of Congress, will retire at the end of this year, after Tennessee Republicans shredded his Nashville-based seat into three pieces in redistricting. He is the 29th House Democrat to leave the chamber to retire or seek higher office during this Congress.

“No one tried harder to keep our city whole,” Cooper wrote in a statement announcing his decision. “I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There’s no way, at least for me, in this election cycle.”

Read the full article. Last year the progressive group Justice Democrats announced plans to primary the “Blue Dog” Democrat in 2022.

TN CD-5. Sixteen-term US Rep Jim Cooper (D), 67, announced he will retire… a day after the legislature adopted new maps that took his +23 Biden district and turned it into a +11 Trump district. They did this by dividing his Dem base of Nashville between Districts 5, 6 and 7

— Politics1.com (@Politics1com) January 25, 2022

House Democrats exit list grows to 29 as longtime Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee announces retirementhttps://t.co/RwjnXj5FZE

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 25, 2022