State Rep. Justin J. Pearson said he plans to challenge Steve Cohen in the race to represent Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Now is the time for us to fight for our families, for our values, for our future,” Pearson said in an interview with MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. “More than ever, we are seeing the destruction of our democracy, lack of care and concern for people in our communities, and we need a voice speaking up for justice, speaking up for fairness, equality and the future that we want to live into.”
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In the interview, Pearson, 30, sharply criticized Cohen as being out of touch with everyday Memphians. Prior to his election to Congress in 2006, Cohen, an attorney, spent 24 years in the Tennessee State Senate. Earlier this year, Cohen told The Memphis Flyer that he plans to run in 2026.
District 9 covers most of Shelby County, including Memphis, and parts of Tipton County.
The primary for the U.S. House is Aug. 6, 2026, and the general election will be Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.
“We have extraordinary people (in Memphis), but we have been denied economic opportunity, which has led to economic strangulation, poverty, and the ramification of that has been crime,” Pearson said. “All of these are interconnected problems that we do not have an advocate for in Congress.”
Pearson first gained prominence in Memphis as the co-founder of the grassroots advocacy organization Memphis Community Against Pollution. Previously known as Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, MCAP played a critical role in the fight against a proposed oil pipeline that would have gone through several southwest Memphis neighborhoods. The organization, now led by Pearson’s brother KeShaun Pearson, is standing up against Elon Musk’s xAI facility.
Following the pipeline’s cancellation, Pearson won a special election to fill the seat of the late Tennessee State Rep. Barbara Cooper, representing District 86 in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
In 2023, Pearson was launched onto a national stage when he, State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) spoke out on the House floor about the need for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the fatal shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville. Pearson and Jones were expelled from the legislature by Republican lawmakers before being subsequently reinstated. Pearson’s seat in the statehouse will also be on the ballot in 2026.
Pearson told MLK50 that during his time in the statehouse, he’s most proud of elevating the issue of gun violence in Tennessee, finding common ground with Republicans on issues like clean air and holding over a dozen town halls, connecting community members with local and state agencies to help resolve problems.
“That is also part of the job,” he said. “It isn’t just pushing ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘present, not voting’ buttons. It’s about using the position and all of its resources.”
If elected to Congress, Pearson’s priorities will include: Seeking justice for working families through stronger labor rights and livable wages, elevating affordable housing, seeking to pass gun control legislation, seeking federal investments to combat poverty and crime, and working toward health care equity, including expanded Medicare access and veterans support, according to a news release.
During his time representing the 9th District, Cohen, 76, has steered federal dollars toward Memphis, including for public transit and the renovation of the historic Melrose High School. He also chaired hearings on voting rights and the Equal Rights Amendment, and sponsored police reform bills that were incorporated into the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Tuesday night, Cohen posted to Facebook that “an ambitious young candidate has said he plans to announce he is running for the House of Representatives in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District.”
“With your continued support, we will turn back this challenge in the Democratic Primary and go on to work with the incoming Democratic House Majority to put a stop to this runaway administration,” Cohen wrote. “With a shutdown, an out-of-control, power-grabbing executive, and ICE and the National Guard on the streets of Memphis, this is a time for the experience and institutional knowledge that I bring to the table.”
Pearson has described himself as “the fourth son of teenage parents, (who) grew up financially poor but spiritually rich.” His mother is a teacher, and his father is a preacher. His advocacy started at 15, when he began going to the school board to demand textbooks for Mitchell High School. Much of that advocacy has been rooted in Southwest Memphis, where Pearson grew up and part of his family still lives.
“I don’t have a mega-mansion in Midtown or a condo in Washington, D.C., right? Like that’s not my story,” Pearson told MLK50. “And the truth of the matter is that’s not the story of most Memphians. It might be the story of Steve Cohen, but that’s not the story of most Memphians. And that lack of proximity from the problems and from the pain is one of the reasons I think we are not getting the best representation possible to stand up, speak up and to fight for us.”
Pearson said he knows this will be a difficult race, going up against an incumbent with years of service. But, he said, he believes “in the power of our movement.”
“I am a regular person seeking to serve the hardest working people I know in this city, and I am proximate to the pain and wanting people to know that they’ve got somebody, because I always wanted to have somebody growing up,” Pearson said.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect that Pearson was a co-founder of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline.
Katherine Burgess is the government accountability reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at katherine.burgess@mlk50.com
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