FazzNoth Posted January 30, 2022 Posted January 30, 2022 On Friday morning, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper walked into Nashville's Westwood Baptist Church Youth Center, greeting volunteers at an annual United Way tax preparation clinic he has supported for nearly two decades. After 18 years supporting the event as Nashville's congressman, Friday's event was his last. An aggressive redistricting effort from Tennessee Republicans led Cooper to announce he will not seek reelection this year. It's an end of an era for the longtime politician, but also for Nashville itself amid a shifting political landscape that the congressman fears the city will face without local representation. . "All of this is not about me. This is a crisis for Nashville," Cooper said in a Friday interview. "Gerrymandering is an extinction event for the political life of Nashville." MORE: US Rep. Jim Cooper will not seek reelection after GOP redraws Nashville congressional district His retirement drops a clear signal of how he views the party's chances of holding the newly drawn 5th Congressional District and the chances a court could strike down the Republican-drawn map. Each of the three new districts, for the time being, are predicted to favor Republicans, which some worry will further exacerbate Democratic challenges with recruiting candidates and building a bench for higher office in Tennessee. Aspiring Democrats have long viewed the 5th district seat as one of the few jumping-off points for Democrats in Nashville. But it won't be the only thing Nashville is losing with Cooper's departure after over three decades in office. The city will lose a moderate representative and decades of congressional institutional knowledge, said John Geer, a Vanderbilt political science professor. "It's a loss in a lot of ways because of Cooper's deep experience and his appreciation of Nashville," Greer said. "He represented Nashville in lots of ways and cares deeply about the city, but often did that as someone who could work across the aisle." https://eu.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/30/jim-cooper-retirement-signals-shift-nashvilles-political-landscape/9233099002/
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