Jim Cooper

Biography

Jim Cooper represented two Nashville area districts in the House, the first from 1983 to 1995 and the second from 2003 to 2023.  In 1994, he ran for the Senate seat from Tennessee vacated by Al Gore when he was elected vice president, losing to Republican Fred Thompson. A moderate “blue dog” Democrat, he served at various times on the Banking, Energy and Commerce, Armed Services, Budget, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform Committees of the House. A New York Times column once described Cooper as “the conscience of the House” and “a lonely voice for civility.” 

A Rhodes scholar and lawyer by training, Cooper founded an investment bank, Brentwood Capital Advisers, in Nashville during the period between his two terms in the House. He has taught at Vanderbilt’s Graduate School of Management and is now a resident scholar at the university’s law school.