Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, a 32-year veteran of Congress, will retire at the end of this year, after Tennessee Republicans shredded his Nashville-based district into three pieces in redistricting.

He is the 29th House Democrat to leave the chamber to retire or seek higher office during this Congress.

“No one tried harder to keep our city whole,” Cooper wrote in a statement announcing his decision. “I explored every possible way, including lawsuits, to stop the gerrymandering and to win one of the three congressional districts that now divide Nashville. There’s no way, at least for me, in this election cycle.”

Cooper, a conservative Blue Dog Democrat, is part of a storied Tennessee family. His brother is the mayor of Nashville and his father was a governor of the state.