Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee told attendees at a prayer breakfast last month that he wished President Trump would tell Senate GOP candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn to jump off a local bridge, according to an audio recording that surfaced this week.
Cohen made the remarks at a campaign event in Memphis for former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who is running against Blackburn for the state’s open Senate seat this fall. Trump endorsed Blackburn, who currently represents Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, in April and held a rally one month later in Nashville to boost support for the female Republican candidate.
“The big orange president. … He’s going to come down here and he is going to endorse Marsha Blackburn, because Marsha Blackburn, if [Trump] says, ‘Jump off the Harahan Bridge,’ she’ll jump off the Harahan Bridge,” Cohen said in audio obtained by HuffPost on Thursday.
“I wish he’d say that,” the Tennessee Democrat added.
[Opinion: Steve Cohen thinks Marsha Blackburn’s death is fodder for amateur comedy]
Bredesen and Blackburn are running neck-and-neck to replace outgoing GOP Sen. Bob Corker, who announced his retirement last September. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average shows Bredesen carrying a 4.5 percent lead over his Republican opponent.
In response to Cohen’s inflammatory comments, the Bredesen campaign released additional audio from the Memphis event in which the former governor could be heard telling attendees he didn’t want the Senate race “to be about my opponent and who’s worst or who’s made [the] most mistakes, or things like that.”
Cohen, meanwhile, said his comment was made purely in jest and he doesn’t “wish [Blackburn] physical harm.”
“It was obviously humor. I wish her no harm,” he told HuffPost, adding, “I hope she doesn’t get the Senate, and I wish she wasn’t a lackey for Trump.”
