Senator Richard J. “Dick” Cohen represents Senate District 64, which includes portions of the city of Saint Paul in Ramsey County.
Cohen was born in Saint Paul and graduated from Highland Park High School. He earned his B.A. from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and his J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul.
Cohen was first elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1976. He served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for District 63B and, after redistricting 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. He was re-elected in the 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2016 elections.
He 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 announced Cohen’s appointment to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. 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.
Cohen currently serves on the board of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He previously served on the Guthrie Theater board.
