mark b cohen born june 4 1949 is a democratic politician from philadelphia pennsylvania he has represented district 202 in the pennsylvania house of representatives since june 10 1974 he is the most senior member in the pennsylvania general assembly since the december 27 2010 death of sen michael opake one of the most senior state legislators in the united states one of the longest serving state legislators in pennsylvania history and the longest serving democrat in pennsylvania house history he is one of those who know harrisburg a reporter summarized cohen was a washington dc intern during the great society and the war in vietnam he is the last of the watergate babies in pennsylvania still serving in the pennsylvania legislature who were elected to office for the first time in 1974 in the wake of the national backlash against the illegal activities of the watergate scandal they helped to make pennsylvania among the 22 states that established outside oversight of ethical conduct andor disclosure requirements of legislators in the postwatergate 1970s cohen is the most senior of the small number of pennsylvania legislators who started serving before the reagan eracohen served as a member of the house democratic leadership from january 1990 through november 2010 in the positions of democratic caucus chairman 19901992 and 19942010 and majority whip 19921994 no one in pennsylvania history has been elected as a democratic party caucus leader in the pennsylvania house of representatives as many times 11 as cohen was in the 1990s and 2000sas an elected leader of the house democratic caucus for 21 years he worked to unite an often deeply divided group of democratic legislators his efforts sometimes led his colleagues to publicly praise him his efforts for party unity did not always succeed either in caucus elections or in public policy in the april 24 2012 pennsylvania democratic primary election cohen comfortably and decisively defeated and cruised overby 27 points the spirited challenge with a whiff of identity politics of his organized and energetic primary opponent and won nomination for a 21st term 20th full term in the pennsylvania house cohen won his democratic recordsetting 21st term with no republican opponent in the general election seen as a valuable asset in the legislature cohen received 635 of the vote in the democratic primary this victory came in a year in which nationwide 197 state legislative incumbents lost in their party primaries in a preelection interview with the philadelphia sunday sun cohen said the public mission of the pennsylvania legislature is to help pennsylvania citizens we legislators all are and all should be judged on how well we accomplish that in the may 20 2014 democratic primary cohen had a 64 new district due to redistricting and a highspending hardcampaigning opponent this time cohen merely outlasted edged out and squeaked by his opponent in a politicspa online readership survey 36 of its respondents felt cohen would lose before the primary after the primary in a second survey 8 labeled cohens victory the biggest upset of the primaryhis 7 years as democratic majority chairman of the house labor relations committee were years of collaborative relationships with other legislators and legislative staff michael e cassidy elected to a single house term in 1976 beginning at the age of 21 long served as his executive director