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Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Ohio) are in an escalating war of words over Tubbs Jones’s support for Cohen’s primary challenger.
Cohen suggested to The Hill that Tubbs Jones was supporting his challenger, an African-American woman, because they are both black and he is white. Tubbs Jones then accused Cohen of sitting outside the fundraiser and intimidating people as they were walking in.
Tubbs Jones held a Washington fundraiser for challenger Nikki Tinker on June 24, and she spent much of this weekend campaigning for Tinker in Memphis. Tubbs Jones and Tinker are both members of Delta Sigma Theta, a prominent black sorority.
“I have to question whether or not, if I was an African-American and had that seat and a Delta ran against me, would [Tubbs Jones] be involved? I doubt it,” Cohen told The Hill.
Cohen, a freshman, represents a majority-black district, so the campaign already had strong racial overtones.
Tubbs Jones also supported Tinker in 2006, when Cohen won the race for an open seat against a crowded field of black candidates. But it’s unusual for members of Congress to support a primary challenger.
Tubbs Jones said she was supporting Tinker because they are friends and sorority sisters.
She then said that Cohen sought to disrupt the fundraiser by sitting outside it and chastising people as they walked by.
“He absolutely was, and I went outside and spoke to him,” she said. “I told him that I thought his conduct was inappropriate.
“He did try to intimidate the people coming and going. He sat out front and called out their names. … Since he’s accusing me of holding a fundraiser for Nikki Tinker just because she’s African-American, I want to put on the table the conduct that I observed.”
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