With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+22, it is the only Democratic district in Tennessee.

[4] Since 1875, the area has sent mostly Democrats to Congress with the exception of a brief period from 1967 to 1975 when it was represented by Republican Dan Kuykendall.

In 1974, in the midst of Watergate, Kuykendall supported Nixon throughout the scandal, and was subsequently defeated by Democrat Harold Ford Sr., whose family had strong political ties in Memphis dating back to at least the 1920s.

The younger Ford served for ten years, until he mounted an unsuccessful bid for US Senate.

[8] Cohen is noted for being Tennessee's first Jewish congressman, and was the first white Democrat to represent a significant portion of Memphis in 40 years.