Why Justin Pearson Wants to Unseat a 10-Term Democratic Incumbent in Congress

With much of the political press focused on the insurgent candidacy of Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist running for mayor of New York, another young candidate on the left has announced an underdog primary challenge in an unlikely conscience jurisdiction: Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District. Justin Pearson, a state Rep., will face longtime incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen to become the Democratic Party nominee to represent the district, which is anchored by Memphis, a blue stronghold in a red state.

Pearson, a Memphis native, is collaborating with national progressive groups Judge Democrats and Leaders We Deserve to help counter the headline-grabbing and big-ticket fundraising advantages that Cohen enjoys. “We’re going to have to run our own race,” Pearson told me. “And it will be a great campaign for justice for people.

Pearson rose to national prominence in 2023 as part of the “Tennessee Three” — a group of state lawmakers disciplined by the Legislature for welcoming protesters into the chamber demanding stricter gun control measures following a Nashville school shooting. Still, as Pearson acknowledges, it will be a challenge. Cohen has served for two decades, pursued re-election with 71% of the vote in 2024 and has more than $1.5 million in cash on hand. Pearson and his backers are banking on being able to exploit growing discontent with Democrats in Congress, who clock abysmal levels of support in opinion polls, and are seen by the party’s base as risk-averse and complacent about Maga’s seizure of authoritarian power.

Pearson isn’t the only one running against establishment Democrats. Just before his announcement, Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlop announced his campaign for Democratic primary Rep. Jared Golden, who represents the state’s 2nd congressional district, also on the grounds that Golden – a right-of-center lawmaker, who does not respond to Democratic votes for “someone who is going to fight for things for things for things.”

While Memphis is in every sense rural Maine, Pearson’s campaign will hit the same themes. “I think every Democrat in Tennessee wants to have a candidate who is going to stand up for the community and its values, and fight against Donald Trump and the affordability crisis for workers,” Pearson said. “I am a person who knows this struggle because I have lived it.” He points to the working-class context against Cohen’s status as a veteran Capitol Hill insider who recently purchased a condominium in Washington. “You know the fight to make one job is enough,” Pearson said in the ad announcing his candidacy, which endorses Medicare for All and cites his successful opposition to a multibillion-dollar pipeline project in the district and his 2023 expulsion from the Legislature.

Pearson also told me he would diverge from Cohen’s staunch support for Israel in Congress. “What is happening in Gaza is heartbreaking,” he said. “As we recognize the two-year anniversary of the war, we must take a moment and remember the horrific aggression against Israelis by Hamas – but we must also remember that all human life has value and what is happening to the Palestinians. Netanyahu’s government is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

He insisted that Congress must do more to stop the tragedy in Gaza while helping Americans at home: “I’m not going to support sending billions of bombs overseas, when people in my own district – their homes are sinking, and their children are doing nothing in the way to fight potential and hunger.

Pearson is generally reluctant to harass his main opponent’s responsibilities. “I am grateful for Steve Cohen’s service and more than 20 years in Congress. I’m not making his age an issue in this campaign. What I’m saying is that a lot has changed in the last 42 years.”

Judge’s Democrats, in the tradition of campaign advocacy groups, attacked Cohen more directly in his statement endorsing Pearson. “Over the years, Cohen has adopted the model of the average absentee congressman,” it reads in part. “He rarely shows up in the community, campaigns for support or holds town halls – taking leadership in Tennessee’s only Democratic district for granted at the expense of his own constituents – while cutting cash checks from corporate drive-bys. Its lack of engaged and active engagement lowered the expectations of souvenirs in their convention community.

Another challenge for Pearson is finding a way for his campaign to gain traction among the district’s rural voters. He argues that his core policy platform — which focuses on access to health care, affordable housing and environmental protection — addresses the concerns of both rural and urban voters, while noting that Trump’s tariffs are a huge cost-of-living problem for farmers in his district. “Look, people were fomenting the culture wars in order to distract from these bread and butter issues; it’s all part of the plan to give more power to billionaires,” he said. “So I say to rural voters, ‘These rates are not designed to help you. I spoke to soybean farmers in the district two days ago, and they tell me that China is the one benefiting from the tariffs. »

For all the mounting challenges facing his campaign, from Cohen’s well-respected campaign trail to centrist Democrats’ pushback, Pearson enjoys one advantage: For some unfathomable reason, Cohen’s reelection slogan is “Keep Goin’ With Cohen!”, an imperative that echoes the reelection CringEy featured in the 1997 Hollywood. Wags the dog; Pearson previously quoted him in the press release announcing his candidacy, saying, “For too long, voters have been asked to ‘continue’ with the same leadership and results.” In conversation, he laughed and added, “It’s like, ‘Keep going where?’ In our district, one in three children are in poverty, one in five adults are in poverty, and our democracy is crumbling. »