The Sunday New York Times examines Steve Cohen’s bid for a third term as a Memphis area congressnan.
Cohen, 60, is up against a popular former mayor of Memphis, Willie Herenton, whose campaign manager says skin color matters.
“This seat was set aside for people who look like me,” said Mr. Herenton’s campaign manager, Sidney Chism, a black county commissioner. “It wasn’t set aside for a Jew or a Christian. It was set aside so that blacks could have representation.”
The district was created in 1972 to give voice to its 60 percent African majority.
Cohen says he does just that:
Mr. Cohen, 60, is a well-known Memphis liberal who considered joining the Congressional Black Caucus, wrote a national apology for slavery and the Jim Crow laws, and received an “A” rating from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“I vote like a black woman,” he said in an interview. “I don’t know the black experience, but I know about being a minority and being discriminated against because of religion.”
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