GOP-Backed Redistricting Bill Separates Jewish Dem from Long-Time Jewish Constituents

NJDC — January 10, 2012 – 12:03 pm | Election 2012 Comments (0) Add a comment

In what appears on its surface to be an unfortunate move shifting Jewish voters out of the district of the only Jewish member of Congress ever elected in Tennessee, Republicans are apparently backing a proposal that would separate Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) from the Jewish constituents and institutions he has represented for a number of years at the state and federal levels. According to The Commercial Appeal:

A congressional redistricting plan being considered this week by the Tennessee legislature would remove all of the major Jewish institutions and much of the Jewish vote from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen’s 9th District, he said Monday.

Cohen, the first Jewish congressman elected from Tennessee, said the plan draws an ‘appendage’ west from the proposed 8th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Stephen Fincher, up the Poplar Corridor as far west as The Links at Galloway Golf Course….

‘Nearly every Jewish person in my district would be taken out because the Jewish people in Memphis all live out east,’ Cohen said. ‘There’s a handful in Downtown and Midtown.’

Politically, Cohen said, he wants those voters in his district because he has represented their interests in the state senate and in Congress for 20 years.

‘There’s a commonality of interests from social issues as well as foreign policy where there’s been a connection over the years,’ he said….

Cohen’s district is home to major Jewish congregations such as Temple Israel, the Baron Hirsch Synagogue, Beth Sholom Synagogue, the Jewish Community Center, the Plough Towers retirement home and other concentrations of Jewish voters, Cohen said.

‘It’s ironic that the only Jewish congressman ever elected in the state and redistricting takes all your Jewish constituents and congregations away from you,’ said Cohen. ‘That’s just something that’s never happened in this country. I don’t know what the intent was.’

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