James Hayes Shofner Cooper (born June 19, 1954) is an American lawyer, businessman, professor, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Tennessee's 5th congressional district (based in Nashville and containing parts of Davidson, Cheatham, and Dickson Counties) from 2003 to 2023.

Cooper built seniority and respect on two different sets of committees, becoming what The New York Times op-ed writer Joe Nocera called "the conscience of the House, a lonely voice for civility in this ugly era.

"[2] Cooper announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022 after accusing Tennessee's Republican-led state legislature of partisan gerrymandering in the redistricting cycle.

[3] The new congressional map, which split Davidson County into 3 separate districts, turned TN-5 from a Democratic-leaning seat into a Republican one.

[5] His paternal grandfather, William Prentice Cooper, served as mayor of Shelbyville and speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

[6] The Cooper family owns the River Side Farmhouse, built for his great-great-grandfather, Jacob Morton Shofner, in 1890;[7] the Gov.

[9] Cooper attended the Episcopal boys' boarding school Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts,[10] and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma chapter of the Chi Psi fraternity, received the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, and earned a B.A.

[11] Cooper spent two years working for the law firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP in Nashville, and then ran for Congress in 1982.

The new 4th ran diagonally across the state, from heavily Republican areas near the Tri-Cities, Knoxville and Chattanooga to the fringes of the Nashville suburbs.

The district stretched across five media markets – the Tri-Cities (Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol), Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville and Huntsville, Alabama.

In 1992, Cooper co-authored a bipartisan health-care reform plan that did not include employer mandates compelling universal coverage.

[20] In 1994, Cooper ran for the Senate seat vacated by Al Gore's election to the Vice Presidency in 1992, but lost to Republican attorney and actor Fred Thompson.

The 4th district seat was also won by a Republican, Van Hilleary, as the GOP gained a majority of the state's congressional delegation for only the second time since Reconstruction.

[citation needed] After losing his Senate bid, Cooper moved to Nashville and became an investment banker at Equitable Securities.

Had it been implemented, the map would have left Cooper with only two realistic places to run—an incumbent-versus-incumbent challenge in the 6th against freshman Republican Diane Black, or the reconfigured 5th, which had reportedly been drawn for State Senator and Murfreesboro resident Bill Ketron, chairman of the redistricting committee.

Haynes was endorsed by state senator Brenda Gilmore[28] and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson,[29] among others.

In 2012, Cooper created the Golden Goose Award to recognize the human and economic benefits of federally funded research.

[31] Each year, the award is given to scientists to highlight examples of seemingly obscure studies that have led to major breakthroughs and resulted in significant societal impact.

Cooper's only options would have been running in the new 5th, which would have been almost two-thirds new to him, or challenging Republican incumbents John Rose in the 6th or Mark Green in the 7th.

In 2009 the Wall Street Journal wrote of Cooper's concerns about the national deficit, "It's even worse than most people think, he says, because of dodgy accounting used by the federal government.

Also in 2012, Cooper and Representative Steve LaTourette[49] forced the only congressional vote on the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction package.

In January 2013, Cooper was the only Democrat in the House to vote against an emergency bill to provide additional disaster and recovery funds in the wake of Hurricane Sandy after supporting the initial $30 billion in relief.

[57][58] In 2017, Cooper worked with Republican Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama on a proposal to establish a Space Corps under the Department of the Air Force.

[59] Two years later, a bill with very similar language was signed into law, creating the United States Space Force.

[63] Cooper served on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and was one of the top Democrats in charge of both nuclear weapons and military satellites for many years.

[66] In 2009, Cooper and his aide Russell Rumbaugh authored an article titled "Real Acquisition Reform", which was printed in Joint Forces Quarterly.

[73] In 2022, Cooper was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.