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Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson will challenge Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen for his Memphis-area seat, with a $1 million assist from David Hogg and an endorsement from the progressive group Justice Democrats.
“The congressman has served in public office for 42 years, and I’m grateful for his service to our community,” Pearson told Semafor. “A lot has changed over those 42 years. The way the government works, the way that politics is working — the status quo isn’t something that we can keep going with.”
Pearson, 30, gained national attention two years ago when he and a Nashville colleague were expelled from the state legislature after protesting inside the chamber. He got early political experience as an intern for Cohen, 76, who told Semafor that he plans to seek another term.
Pearson has “always had an interest in this office,” Cohen said. “My constituents have elected me ten times. They make the decision about who’ll serve there. I have constituents tell me every day that I’m doing the right thing, and I think that’s a pretty good focus group.”
Pearson argued that the district, now the only part of Tennessee represented by a Democrat in Congress, deserves more active leadership. He was immediately endorsed by Leaders We Deserve, the group Hogg has focused on since leaving his DNC vice chair position in June, alongside a $1 million investment in his campaign.
“You can’t just write stern letters and newsletters against this administration,” Pearson said. “You have to support organizers who are making sure there’s mutual aid, making sure that there’s a hotline for people who are having horrible interactions with this militarized occupation of our city. And you have to use your voice to speak on all of the beautiful things about Memphis.”
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Cohen beat back primary challengers in his first campaigns for the 9th congressional district, who argued that the majority-Black seat deserved Black representation.
He settled into the seat as a wry and reliably progressive House Democrat, introducing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Virginia turned violent.
The congressman, who survived a childhood bout with polio, has not faced rumors or critical stories about his age the way that some other septuagenarian lawmakers have. But Pearson’s challenge is the latest of several this cycle that pit a youthful Democrat against a Baby Boomer.
“Memphis deserves a next-generation leader like Justin,” Hogg said in a statement.
Cohen countered that Leaders We Deserve was challenging Democrats who were failing in their jobs or weakly opposing Trump, vowing that none of those criteria applied to him.
“The constituents decide whether it’s time for generational change,” he said. “David Hogg promoted a candidate who just ran against Adelita Grijalva in Arizona. She got beat by 30-40 points. So where he’s supported candidates, they haven’t had generational change.”
Pearson said that he was not making age a focus of his race, but that the district deserved more active representation, with more humble roots.
“I’m not a multi-millionaire who is independently wealthy like Steve Cohen,” he said. “I’ve helped to organize our community time and time again, and even brought Steve Cohen into some of those fights, like the protest against Elon Musk’s xAI Colossus plant.”
Asked if he would support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries if he got to Congress, Pearson said that he could, praising Jeffries for “making the Democrats stay on message” during the shutdown. Democrats could be doing more, he added.
“Every congressperson should be having one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight town halls to communicate what’s going on and why,” he said, “in addition to organizing the people in the district for the consequences of what happens if they lose access to health care.”
Pearson called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” and said he would support legislation to recognize Palestinian statehood. He added that he would be reluctant to fund more US military aid to the Jewish state.
“It always has angered and baffled me that, overnight, billions of dollars can be given to countries for bombs — but if I ask for billions of dollars for poverty eradication in my district, people look at me like I have two heads,” he said.
David’s view
The Democrats’ restless post-Biden mood is impacting race after race, and incumbents who’ve been in office since before their challengers were born look unusually vulnerable.
Cohen has not made the sort of public slip-ups that convinced Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., to retire, or that compelled two younger Democrats to challenge 88-year old DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. He’s held town hall meetings and responded to activists who want him to more aggressively challenge Israel.
But Pearson is well-known in the district. He’s offering voters younger, more visible, busier representation — the kind that would be on their phones and their TV screens every day.
“This district does not have time to wait or keep going with the same status quo leadership that has governed for decades,” Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in her endorsement of the challenger.
Right now, Pearson is running not on ideological differences, but on energy and style.
Notable
- In NPR, Elena Moore took a look at the many younger Democrats challenging elderly incumbents, from San Francisco to Indianapolis.