Jim Cooper: Send him back? Or end his time as US Rep?

[MLBrumby]

I've made no secret of my disdain for Jim Cooper on a personal level. I've had about a dozen encounters with him over the past 30 years, and he's always been the same... moody, seething, brooding, arrogant, entitled, and (my favorite) an empty suit. I'm personal friends with four of his Democratic colleagues in Congress and the general opinion of those in his own party is that he's a 'petulant backbencher' (quoted by a fellow Democrat from West TN).  Then there's  his being a brother of the worst mayor of Nashville since Bill Boner, and the fact it took him over a decade to (eventually fail to) fund a federal courthouse for his own district with his party in charge of both chambers of Congress AND the White House.  I also see a lot of hypocrisy with his being a representative from the Democratic party. I mean, his father was a staunch segregationist and the leftwingers in the party are burning and purging all vestiges of the party's racist past. Right? Anyway, he has a challenger in the primary. Her name is Keeda Haynes. I hope you're willing to learn about her and consider voting for her. She is a decent person, but I've only spoken to her once. Election is August 6. 

If you think Tennessee needs Jim Cooper in the House, then please explain.  

https://www.nashvillepost.com/politics/elections/article/21138149/state-senator-backs-cooper-primary-challenge

[e-dub]

I MUCH prefer Keeda Haynes to Cooper and she has my vote. I've actually never voted for Cooper and don't plan on ever voting for him.

[AsianintheNations]

I have colleagues in the medical field who have also told me about poor experiences meeting with Jim Cooper, who seemed to be more interested in name-dropping and "being right" than meaningfully listening to proposed policies (that would be perfectly in line with the general Democratic Party platform on improving health care in the US). With the primary around the corner, I've been receiving a ton of glossy mailers from Cooper's campaign clearly trying to align him with racial justice protests and advertising his "accessibility." I already voted early for Haynes, but all I've seen are a few yard signs and an unsolicited text from her campaign team, and it'll probably take a lot more than that to overtake a firmly entrenched and clearly deep-pocketed incumbent .... We'll see; hopefully voters who are motivated enough to vote in the primary (during COVID no less) will also be motivated to research the candidates more deeply, regardless of what conclusions they end up reaching.

On a side note, I was happy with the safety measures at my early voting site. Still would've preferred voting by mail, but using a new pen for signatures and a "disposable stylus" (definitely coffee stirrers from Amazon) for voting was definitely comforting.

[e-dub]

Primary challengers rarely win the first time out. I voted for her, too, but I'd be surprised if she wins this go 'round. If she runs in 2022, though, she'll have more name recognition and there's a good chance I'd vote for her again... along with more people, I bet.

[Rockatansky]

I also voted for Haynes.

[MLBrumby]

22 hours ago, AsianintheNations said:

I have colleagues in the medical field who have also told me about poor experiences meeting with Jim Cooper, who seemed to be more interested in name-dropping and "being right" than meaningfully listening to proposed policies (that would be perfectly in line with the general Democratic Party platform on improving health care in the US). With the primary around the corner, I've been receiving a ton of glossy mailers from Cooper's campaign clearly trying to align him with racial justice protests and advertising his "accessibility." I already voted early for Haynes, but all I've seen are a few yard signs and an unsolicited text from her campaign team, and it'll probably take a lot more than that to overtake a firmly entrenched and clearly deep-pocketed incumbent .... We'll see; hopefully voters who are motivated enough to vote in the primary (during COVID no less) will also be motivated to research the candidates more deeply, regardless of what conclusions they end up reaching.

On a side note, I was happy with the safety measures at my early voting site. Still would've preferred voting by mail, but using a new pen for signatures and a "disposable stylus" (definitely coffee stirrers from Amazon) for voting was definitely comforting.

Oh... Jim cooper is one of the most unpleasant men I’ve ever had the displeasure of having dinner with... twice! And with all the cancel culture about obliterating shameful reminders of the past, it’s worth noting that the Coopers’ father was a staunch Jim Crow segregationist. Interesting how that little factoid has escaped the local news media.

[e-dub]

Haynes did well for her first time out against Jim Cooper, but came up a little short. I think if she keeps her name out there and runs a boots on the ground campaign she has a good shot in 2022!

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/509972-tennessee-rep-jim-cooper-wins-primary

[Tennessine]

On tonight's episode of totallylookslike...

Jim Cooper 

 

And 1978 Garfield

 

[MLBrumby]

This one was never in doubt. Rich and powerful incumbent son of a former governor, and the local rag loves him.  Nashville still hasn't reached the point of political diversity. It's still yeller-dawg, like many cities in the South used to be. 

[e-dub]

I'm not writing off this seat just yet.

[MLBrumby]

Do you think the TN-5 district should be split up?  For, or against?  Give your reasons. 

[MLBrumby]

Tossing out.... pros/cons of splitting up TN-5.  There is an argument to be made that the southwestern corner of Davidson County does have more in common with Williamson County than with the rest of the county, which looks like it could/will be merged with Dickson, Cheatham and Robertson (reminds me of a Three Stooges joke).  So would splitting up the district help/hurt Nashville, or have no overwhelming effect?  And that would assume Jim Cooper would be defeated as a result of the split, which is NOT A GIVEN.  He ran unopposed in 2020, but generally his margin of victory has been about 60,000.  So the question would be if Robertson/Cheatham/Dickson Counties have enough conservatives to defeat Cooper.  Regardless of my personal opinion of Rep. Cooper, there could be worse people to represent Nashville. His colleagues from his own party even view him as a reliable back-bencher; but there could be a radical from either end of the spectrum.  With the population limits set forth by state population (6.9 million) and number of congressional representatives (9), all of Davidson County could be included in one district. 

Would this help or hurt?  https://www.nashvillepost.com/politics/elections/speaker-republicans-plan-to-divvy-up-nashville-congressional-district/article_a15cfe1a-030c-586e-8da7-7550797a5f83.html

[AsianintheNations]

Here is the Republican proposal for redistricting, which divides Davidson County into 3 parts:

A close-up of Davidson County courtesy of the Tennessean is here. It's a little hard to see but it looks like the boundary between the 5th and 7th is around I-40 and I-440, and the boundary between the 7th and 6th running somewhere near the river downtown. This would place downtown in the same congressional district as Clarksville and most of Franklin, Belle Meade and Brentwood with Columbia, and East Nashville with Cookeville, if I'm interpreting the map below correctly.

And the current (old) map for comparison:

Splitting Davidson County in two could conceivably have resulted in at least one half becoming a competitive district, which probably explains why it was divided into three instead. 538's redistricting website hasn't yet run the metrics on the proposal, but I'm pretty sure all three resulting districts would be quite safely Republican based on current and near-future voting patterns (I often have to remind myself that as recently as 2011 the delegation was 5-4 in favor of Democrats). I agree with the above post that an argument could be made for southern/southwestern Davidson County sharing interests with Williamson County, but the contortions in the new districts 5-7 in and around Davidson County are pretty clearly partisan in intention.

I do think it's interesting to note that Republicans in Texas did the exact opposite with Austin, which is currently split three ways but in the new map is consolidated into 2, with the intention of essentially making all the districts non-competitive and locking Democratic votes into the city. Presumably, the split districts were too at risk of flipping to Democrats than they were comfortable with, due to Austin's rapid growth. On the other hand, it was the Democrats in Tennessee who proposed a map with Davidson County alone as the new 5th district, which would secure the seat but eliminate any chance of "expansion" should the metro area continue its current demographic trends.

This was the Democrats' map by the way (from 538), not that there was ever a chance of this being adopted. It would have grouped Williamson, Rutherford, and Wilson Counties together into a 4th district that would share very little real estate with the current 4th district. Many of the other districts would also be pretty heavily redrawn.

Presumably, something close to the proposed Republican map will end up being adopted, as I don't see any obvious reason the map would be illegal.

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by AsianintheNations

[AsianintheNations]

As closure for this thread ... as most have probably heard, Jim Cooper has announced that he won't be running for re-election in the fall, presumably as he sees no route to winning with his new district boundaries.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/25/us-rep-jim-cooper-not-seek-reelection-after-gop-redraws-nashville-congressional-district/9214111002/

538's analysis of the second Republican map (presumably the one that will become law) is here and puts the new 5th district at R+15 (from D+17 currently).

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/tennessee/republican_proposal_2/

[samsonh]

8 hours ago, AsianintheNations said:

As closure for this thread ... as most have probably heard, Jim Cooper has announced that he won't be running for re-election in the fall, presumably as he sees no route to winning with his new district boundaries.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/25/us-rep-jim-cooper-not-seek-reelection-after-gop-redraws-nashville-congressional-district/9214111002/

538's analysis of the second Republican map (presumably the one that will become law) is here and puts the new 5th district at R+15 (from D+17 currently).

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-2022-maps/tennessee/republican_proposal_2/

Yep sad news for Nashville. We lose representation. The new GOP map dilutes the minority vote. I think as Nashville continues to grow and the rural areas continue to shrink this plan will lead to much more competitive districts towards the end of this decade.

[AsianintheNations]

1 hour ago, samsonh said:

Yep sad news for Nashville. We lose representation. The new GOP map dilutes the minority vote. I think as Nashville continues to grow and the rural areas continue to shrink this plan will lead to much more competitive districts towards the end of this decade.

A more competitive new-5th-district may certainly happen with the growth projections for the Nashville MSA, but it's also true in 10 years, the districts will get redrawn again, almost certainly by a GOP-dominated state legislature. Nashville can always be cut into more pieces or along different lines.

[samsonh]

34 minutes ago, AsianintheNations said:

A more competitive new-5th-district may certainly happen with the growth projections for the Nashville MSA, but it's also true in 10 years, the districts will get redrawn again, almost certainly by a GOP-dominated state legislature. Nashville can always be cut into more pieces or along different lines.

Absolutely true.