Justin Pearson, a Tennessee state representative known for having once been expelled by state Republicans and unanimously reappointed by Shelby County officials, is launching a campaign for Congress, challenging Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., in the Democratic primary. His aim, he told Salon, is to combat poverty across the United States.
In 2023, Johnson gained national attention after he and two fellow state representatives, Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones, were expelled from the state House by Republicans, who accused them of breaking decorum for participating in a gun-control protest.
Now, Pearson is running for Congress with the support of Justice Democrats, a group that helps elect progressive House members like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D–Mich. He also has the backing of Leaders We Deserve, a group founded by former Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg, which seeks to elect a new generation of leadership in the party. Leaders We Deserve also announced a $1 million investment in Pearson’s bid.
In an interview with Salon, Pearson said that he planned to center the battle against poverty in his campaign and, if elected, in his agenda in Congress.
“One of the biggest issues that we have in District Nine is poverty. Our median income is two-thirds the national average. Every day, 37% of children are living underneath the poverty line. And so my proximity to that pain, as a person who grew up in poverty — and I don’t have a condo in D.C. or a mansion in Memphis — I understand the struggle,” Pearson said.
In practical terms, Pearson said, this means measures like raising the federal minimum wage, passing Medicare for All and preventing corporations from automating away jobs that working-class Americans rely on.
When asked what issues Pearson saw the Cohen, the Democratic incumbent, as failing to address in Congress, Pearson said that “we are grateful for his service,” but that, after nearly 20 years in Congress, it was time for new leadership in the district. Cohen has faced primary challenges in the past, though none have recently garnered more than 15% support.
Cohen told Salon that he expected a primary challenger and that he feels secure that he has the support of the district based on everyday interactions that he has with his constituents, saying, “I’ve never lost a precinct.”
“I always get primaried. I’ve had the former mayor primary me,” Cohen said. “You take them one battle after another. You take them one at a time, and the people come out and the people support me.”
In a short call following Pearson’s announcement, Cohen, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, pointed out that he, alongside Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., is the sponsor of the existing proposal in the House to tax billionaires.
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Pearson also said that it was time for Congress to limit the control billionaires hold on the U.S. government by passing new tax laws that force the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, which can then fund social programs.
“We do need a billionaire’s tax, and we need a tax for people who are making hundreds of millions of dollars too, in their income and capital gains, and not be able to continue to pass well forward without taxes being paid on it,” Pearson said. “The system’s rigged for people who are wealthy to be able to keep as much money as possible while they’re alive and then pass that money on to their kids, which keeps the disparity in income inequality that we are suffering with now. And I think that’s wrong.”
In Pearson’s assessment, many Democrats in Congress, even those looking to pivot to a more economic populist message after 2024, lack the language and credibility to deliver that message effectively. Often, that’s because they are removed from the experience of working-class and poor Americans, or because they are caught between what their voters want and what their donors want.
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“For Democrats, we always have to keep our North Star as doing what is best for working-class people, people who are marginalized and folks who have been oppressed. If we do right for those groups, we’re going to do right for everybody else. A rising tide does lift all boats, and if you lift from the bottom, everybody rises,” Pearson said.
In a statement announcing the Justice Democrats’ endorsement, the group’s executive director, Alexandra Rojas, highlighted the city of Memphis’ fight against billionaire Elon Musk’s data center, which is being built there in order to power xAI’s Grok, the company’s at-times Hitler-praising, anti-woke chatbot.
“The communities and rising young leadership Justin represents in the 9th are on the frontlines of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s war on working families. They are showing the country like so many other major cities under attack what it means to truly come together to protect one another, not roll over, and fight back. This district does not have time to wait or keep going with the same status quo leadership that has governed for decades,” Rojas said.
In a statement endorsing Pearson, Hogg said that he was “a tested fighter who will deliver opportunity, affordability, safety, and justice to his constituents.”
“From his successful work stopping the Byhalia Connection oil pipeline, which threatened the drinking water of more than one million people in the Memphis area, to his fearless stand in the state capitol for stronger gun safety laws after the 2023 Covenant school shooting, Justin J.
Pearson has repeatedly shown the kind of backbone needed to confront powerful special interests, from big oil to the gun lobby,” Hogg said.
