One Memphis Resident Who’s Taking Her Name Off Emily’s List
Last week in our [pages][1], we reported on an historic campaign win by Memphis politician Steve Cohen, who is now the Democratic nominee for Congress from Tennessee’s ninth district.
Cohen, a longtime Tennessee state senator, is the first white candidate in three decades to win the backing of the Democratic voters in the ninth district, which is 60 % African-American. His race and religion were frequent targets for attack throughout the primary campaign, with one other candidate, Julian Bolton, going so far as to tell the Memphis Commercial Appeal that Cohen wants to join the Congressional Black Caucus solely to lobby its members on behalf of Israel.
“He thinks he’s going to go in there and trick the CBC,” Bolton told the newspaper. “He thinks they’d be honored to have him. The only reason he wants to join is that he wants to get money for Israel.”
Now, one of Cohen’s greatest critics – the political action committee Emily’s List – may be getting some payback. Known for supporting “progressive,” pro-choice female candidates, Emily’s List backed candidate Nikki Tinker in the ninth district primary, and in the process, mischaracterized Cohen’s record, according to some of his supporters.
One of them, Memphis resident Dale Engelberg, turned out to be a longtime donor to Emily’s List. She doesn’t have any children, and had the group listed as one of three beneficiaries on all of her financial and insurance accounts.
But no more, she told the Forward: “I plan on withdrawing them as my beneficiary on all of my funds and writing them a little note giving the reasons why.”
Engelberg said she is not upset that Emily’s List backed Tinker, but that it used what she called “Karl Rovian” tactics in smearing Cohen.
[1]: https://forward.com/article/jewish-pol-wins-nod-in- minority-district/
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
