A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 64, which includes portions of the city of Saint Paul in Ramsey County.

[1] Cohen was born in Saint Paul and graduated from Highland Park High School.

Cohen is considered by many to be the leading champion for the arts in the Minnesota Legislature.

He led the campaign to include funding for the arts in the Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment that Minnesota voters approved in 2008.

[3] In 2019, Erin Murphy announced that she would be running to unseat Cohen in the DFL primary.