Justin Pearson, a Democratic lawmaker from Memphis, has won the nomination for the U.S. House. That means he is now officially the Democratic candidate for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District in the November election.
He will face Brent Taylor, a Republican state senator who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Democrat Justin Pearson won the Tennessee primary and will face Trump-backed Republican Brent Taylor in the November election
The activist Pearson is well known because in 2023, he and another Democratic lawmaker, Justin Jones, were expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives after protesting for stricter gun laws on the House floor. The protest came just days after the Nashville school shooting, in which six people, including three children, were killed. A third Democrat, Gloria Johnson, also joined the protest but narrowly avoided expulsion.
During the protest, Justin Pearson, Justin Jones, and Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson repeatedly chanted, “No action, no peace,” while calling for lawmakers to pass stronger gun safety measures, according to The New York Times.
After the vote, Johnson suggested race may have played a role in the outcome because she, a white lawmaker, remained in office while the two Black lawmakers were removed. “It might have to do with the color of our skin,” she told reporters. However, Republican leaders rejected that claim, insisting race had nothing to do with the expulsions.
After the expulsions, Pearson became a national figure. Then-President Joe Biden criticized the decision, calling it “undemocratic,” and many people across the country rallied in support of Pearson and Jones.
Now, three years later, Pearson is seeking a seat in Congress. However, the district he hopes to represent looks very different than before. Tennessee Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act.
The once Memphis-centered district, which previously leaned Democratic and had a majority Black population, now stretches roughly 200 miles across rural Tennessee and is considered more favorable to Republicans.
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