- Douglas Gillon
- Cohen takes his victory lap.
It turns out Charlotte Bergman couldn’t win. Not even close.
9th District congressman Steve Cohen retained his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with a large victory over Bergman, who called Cohen to concede the race within an hour of polls closing.
“Seventy-plus percent is a landslide,” Cohen said in a speech to supporters, “And landslides are what we do.”
Cohen’s victory sends him back to a changed national landscape in Washington, as Republicans won enough seats to take control of the House by a margin of some 60 seats.
“If we lose tonight, and it’s looking like we will” I assure you you’re going to have an effective Congressman from the 9th district,” Cohen told his supporters soon after claiming victrory.
Bergman made an appearance at Bill Haslam’s local headquarters in east Memphis but did not give a formal speech
.
Other Races
Stephen Fincher picked up a seat for Republicans in the 8th district, defeating Roy Herron with 60 percent of the vote in a heavily financed campaign.
For the other big races, it was a night of landslides.
As expected, Republican Bill Haslam soundly defeated Democrat Mike McWherter in the governors race, with 65 percent of the vote to roughly 33 percent for McWherter. McWherter did prevail in shelby County, however, with 51 percent of the vote there.
Marsha Blackburn defeated Greg Rabidoux handily, with 72 percent of the vote in the race for the 7th Congressional seat.
Republican Brian Kelsey will get a chance to serve a full term as the state senator for district 31 after defeating Ivon Faulkner.
Ophelia Ford will retain her seat in the state senate district 29, defeating Robert Hill and Herman Sawyer.
In races for state House seat in Shelby County, some results were relatively close, but incumbents were able to hold on.
Democrats Jeanne Richardson and Mike Kernell retained their seats in seriously contested races. Incumbents Curry Todd, Lois DeBerry, Barbara Cooper, and Johnnie Turner won re-election over opposition handily. All except Republican Todd are Democrats.
The consolidation referendum narrowly passed in Memphis, 51 percent to 49 percent, while getting hammered in non-Memphis voting, 85 percent to 15 percent.
Memphis votes approved a pair of amendments — to repeal staggered-term requirements for city council members; and to allow city employees to reside within greater Shelby County.
C. Elise Dillingham and Jackson Baker contributed to this report.
