One of three Tennessee lawmakers who drew nationwide consideration in 2023 when Republicans within the state Legislature moved to expel them following a gun control protest is operating for Congress, he introduced Wednesday.
Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson went to a Memphis park close to the neighborhood the place he grew as much as announce that he’ll problem longtime Democratic congressman Steve Cohen to characterize the majority-Black metropolis in 2026. The winner possible would have a transparent path to characterize the state’s ninth Congressional District, the state’s solely jurisdiction that leans Democratic underneath congressional strains drawn by Republicans.
Pearson is 30 and Cohen is 76, and was first elected to Congress in 2006 after serving within the Tennessee Senate.
Pearson is certainly one of three members of the Tennessee House who obtained nationwide consideration in 2023 after being the goal of a uncommon expulsion vote following a gun management protest contained in the Legislature.
Pearson labored as an environmental justice activist earlier than he received a seat within the Tennessee House in 2023 in a particular election to exchange a legislator who died. Months later, he joined fellow Democratic Reps. Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones in a protest for extra gun management on the state House flooring.
The demonstration befell simply days after a fatal shooting in Nashville at a non-public Christian faculty the place a shooter killed three kids and three adults. As protesters flooded the Capitol constructing to demand that the Republican supermajority enact some restrictions on firearms, the three lawmakers approached the entrance of the House chamber with a bullhorn, and joined the protesters’ chants and cries for motion.
Republican lawmakers declared that their actions violated House guidelines and moved to expel the “Tennessee Three” – a unprecedented transfer that’s been taken solely a handful of instances for the reason that Civil War. Pearson and Jones, who’re Black, had been each expelled by the predominantly White GOP-dominated caucus, whereas Johnson, who’s White, narrowly prevented expulsion.
A polio survivor, Cohen is a 10-term incumbent who has received almost each election with greater than 70 % of the vote. One of his largest challenges got here when he defeated Willie Herenton, Memphis’ first Black mayor, within the Democratic main in 2010.
Cohen was a staunch ally of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and he’s a frequent critic of Republican President Donald Trump. He has constantly secured funding for massive Memphis entities like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the University of Memphis, Memphis International Airport and town’s public transportation system. Cohen has served on the House Judiciary and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
After the expulsion, each Pearson and Jones had been reinstated to the Legislature by officers in Memphis and Nashville. They had been reelected to the state House in August 2023.
Since then, Pearson has remained vocal in his help of gun management legal guidelines and lowering poverty.
“Poverty persists across neighborhoods and we’ve seen significantly less federal investment compared to other communities in Tennessee,” Pearson stated in an announcement launched earlier than the information convention. “We can’t afford more of the same. It’s time for a new vision.”
Cohen’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Pearson additionally has criticized the presence in Memphis of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. Pearson and others contend the corporate’s use of excessive quantities of energy and water are resulting in air pollution and different environmental hazards. The firm has fought again against these claims.
Both Cohen and Pearson have expressed concern with the deliberate arrival of the National Guard within the metropolis as a part of a federal crime activity drive ordered by Trump.