Jim Cooper

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Jim Cooper
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Bob Clement
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 4th district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 4, 1995
Preceded by	Al Gore
Succeeded by	Van Hilleary
Born	July 19, 1954 (1954-07-19) (age 54) Nashville, Tennessee
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Martha Hayes
Residence	Nashville, Tennessee
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Oxford University, Harvard University
Occupation	attorney
Religion	Episcopalian

James Hayes Shofner "Jim" Cooper (born July 19, 1954) is a politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee, currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing the state's fifth congressional district, based in Nashville, but also includes Mt. Juliet, Pegram, and the western portion of Lebanon. He is a Democrat, and previously represented the neighboring fourth congressional district from 1983 to 1995. He belongs to the Blue Dog Democrats.

[edit] Early life

Cooper was born on June 19, 1954 in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the son of former governor Prentice Cooper. Cooper attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of Alpha Sigma of the Chi Psi fraternity and a recipient of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, he obtained a B.A. in history and economics. Cooper then went on to win the Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford earning a B.A./M.A. in politics and economics in 1977. In 1980, he received a J.D. from the Harvard University School of Law.

[edit] Fourth district

In 1982, he won the Democratic primary for the new 4th District, which had been created when Tennessee gained a district after the 1980 census. The newly-created 4th District ran diagonally across the state, from heavily Republican areas near Tri-Cities, Knoxville and Chattanooga to the fringes of the Nashville suburbs. The district stretched across five media markets (the Tri-Cities, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville and Huntsville, Alabama), so the 1982 race had much of the feel of a statewide race. Due to the district's demographics, many felt whoever won it would almost instantly become a statewide figure with a high potential for election to statewide office in the future. Cooper defeated Baker with 66 percent of the vote and was reelected five more times with little substantive opposition, running unopposed in 1986 and 1988. This was somewhat surprising, given the district's volatile demographics. The district, then as now, was split between areas with strong Democratic and Republican voting histories. Indeed, prior to Cooper's election, much of the eastern portion of the 4th hadn't been represented by a Democrat since the Civil War. However, he found himself having to explain many of his votes to his somewhat conservative constituents.

In 1990, Cooper was one of the only three House Democrats that voted against the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.^[1]

In 1992 he was co-author of a bipartisan health care reform plan, not including employer mandates to force universal coverage. This met strong opposition from Hillary Clinton. In 1993 Cooper said that Clinton was getting pulled too far to the left.^[2]

[edit] 1994 Senate run

In 1994, Cooper ran for the United States Senate for the seat left open when Al Gore was elected Vice President, but was defeated by Republican attorney and actor Fred Thompson, receiving just under 40% of the vote. It was a bad year overall for Democrats in Tennessee, as Republicans captured Tennessee's other Senate seat (in the person of Bill Frist) as well as the governorship. The 4th also fell to the Republicans (in the person of Van Hilleary) as the party gained a majority of the state's congressional delegation for only the second time since Reconstruction. Cooper then moved to Nashville and entered private business, also serving as a professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

[edit] Return to congress

Fifth District Congressman Bob Clement ran for Thompson's Senate seat in 2002 after Thompson opted not to run for a second full term, creating the first open-seat race in the 5th District since 1897 (when it was numbered the 6th District). Cooper entered the Democratic primary along with several other prominent local Democrats. Republicans had long since given up on a district they hadn't won since 1874 (Republicans haven't made a serious bid for the 5th since 1972), meaning that whoever won the Democratic primary was all but assured of becoming the district's next representative. Cooper won the primary with 44 percent of the vote, all but assuring his return to Congress after an eight-year absence. Cooper defeated opponent Craig Schelske in the general election by an overwhelming margin; he was handily reelected in 2004 against a Republican who ran only a token campaign and disavowed his party's national ticket.

In the 2006 election, Cooper faced Tom Kovach. Kovach was the state public relations coordinator for the Constitution Party, but ran as a Republican since the Constitution Party did not have ballot access in Tennessee at the time. No one opposed Kovach for the Republican nomination. Cooper defeated Kovach by 41 points. Given the 5th's heavy Democratic tilt, it is very unlikely that Cooper will face substantive Republican opposition in the foreseeable future.

Cooper is the only Tennessean on the Armed Services Committee. He also serves on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. On May 2007, he became one of Barack Obama's earliest Congressional endorsers.^[3] Cooper was one of 11 Democrats to vote against an $819 billion economic stimulus plan that passed the House in 2009,^[4] but eventually accepted the revised $787 billion final package.^[5] Cooper is considered as a fiscally conservative Democrat, one of the only two Blue Dog members who don’t seek earmarks (another congressman is Walt Minnick of Idaho).^[6][7]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
  • Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jim Cooper

• U.S. Representative Jim Cooper Official House site
• Jim Cooper for Congress Official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Liberadio(!) Interview
• "Jim Cooper Gets the Treatment: A Blue Dog Barks Back" Interview with Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic, 2 April 2009