Richard J. Cohen (born December 10, 1949) is a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

politician and a former member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any State legislature (Unite ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minneso ...

(DFL), he represented District 64, which includes portions of the city of

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

in Ramsey County.

Early life and education

Cohen was born in

and graduated from Highland Park High School. He earned his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, and his J.D. from

William Mitchell College of Law William Mitchell College of Law was a private law school from 1956 to 2015 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of the Juris Doctor (J. ...

in Saint Paul.

Minnesota Legislature

Cohen was first elected to the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenn ...

in 1976. He served as a member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...

for District 63B and, after

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

in 1982, for District 64B. He was elected senator for District 64 in 1986, gaining the lone Republican-held Senate seat within the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

. He was reelected in the 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012, and 2016 elections. Cohen was chair of the Senate Finance Committee from 2003 to 2011 and chair of the Senate State Government Finance Committee from 1997 to 2001. On November 3, 2009, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

announced Cohen's appointment to the

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the President of the United States on cultural issues. It works directly with the White House and the three primary cultural agencies: the National End ...

. Cohen is considered by many to be the leading champion for the arts in the Minnesota Legislature. He led the campaign to include funding for the arts in the Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment that Minnesota voters approved in 2008. In 2019,

Erin Murphy Erin Margaret Murphy (born June 17, 1964) is an American actress, who is best known for her role as young Tabitha Stephens in the television sitcom ''Bewitched'', in 103 episodes from the show's third season (in 1966) to the last original episo ...

announced that she would be running to unseat Cohen in the DFL primary. On November 17, Cohen announced that he would not be running for re-election in 2020.

Personal life

Cohen serves on the board of the

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is an American chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Its principal concert venue is the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. In collaboration with five artistic partners, the orchestra's musi ...

. He previously served on the

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions among Sir Tyrone Gut ...

board.

Electoral history

References

External links

Senator Dick Cohen
''official Minnesota Senate website''
Senator Dick Cohen
''official campaign website''
Minnesota Public Radio - Votetracker: Richard J. Cohen Voting RecordProject Vote Smart - Senator Richard J. 'Dick' Cohen Profile
*''Follow the Money'' - Richard Cohen Campaign Contributions
20062004200220001996
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Dick Living people 1949 births Democratic Party Minnesota state senators Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Jewish state legislators in Minnesota People from Ramsey County, Minnesota Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Northwestern University alumni William Mitchell College of Law alumni Minnesota lawyers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature