Steve Cohen won 79% to Nikki Tinker's 19%. This is great news for Memphis and for Tennessee. Cohen has a long progressive voting record that would easily qualify the man to run as a liberal in the most progressive corner of Europe. Progressive Punch ranks Cohen's lifetime progressive score at 96%. That's pro choice, pro gay rights, and pro legalized marijuana, etc.
Tennessee is lucky to have him.
And have him we do. For Steve Cohen, the Democratic primary was the general election. Memphis simply does not elect Republicans. Would that the rest of the country was as wise.
And so long to you Nikki Tinker, your name is mud across the entire nation.
New York Times: In the 9th District, in Memphis, the campaign turned ugly in its final days, when Tinker ran a television ad juxtaposing photos of Cohen, who is Jewish, and a hooded Ku Klux Klan member. Tinker's supporters argued the district, which is 60 percent black and 35 percent white, should be represented by a black candidate.
Cohen, a former state senator with a long record as a civil rights supporter, led an effort last month to get the U.S. House to issue an unprecedented apology to black Americans for wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws. The ad was also incongruous because of Cohen's religion -- Jews are another group targeted by the KKK. [via]
Politico: Cohen handily defeats Tinker
Blogometer: A Walk In Memphis
Steve Cohen News Race Nikki Tinker Memphis Tennessee Politics
