{"id":221,"date":"2026-06-16T16:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/?p=221"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:38:22","slug":"bernie-sanders-backs-justin-j-pearson-house-candidate-at-the-heart-of-tennessee-voting-rights-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"Bernie Sanders Backs Justin J. Pearson, House Candidate at the Heart of Tennessee Voting Rights Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

An outspoken progressive<\/span> running for Congress in the Tennessee district at the center of Republicans\u2019 efforts to sabotage voting rights and maintain control of the House earned the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Celebrates Achieving Absolutely Nothing in Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson found himself the unexpected front-runner in the Democratic primary when two-decade incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen dropped out last month, after new gerrymandered maps throttled his chances of winning reelection. The redrawn 9th Congressional District and sudden shakeup mean that rather than running against the last Democrat representing Tennessee in the House, Pearson is facing a Republican machine bent on delivering an all-GOP delegation for President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The new map hurts the chances for Pearson \u2014 or any Democrat \u2014 to win in November, but the candidate said he\u2019s running on a platform focused on wealth, income inequality, and corporate overreach that aims to appeal across party lines. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a number of disaffected Republican voters, you\u2019ve got a number of distraught MAGA voters, and you\u2019ve got fired-up Democrats, which is a perfect recipe for success for us,\u201d Pearson told The Intercept. \u201cBecause our tent is big enough for everybody who is feeling that this status quo was rigged and broken against working-class folk, and want to see a future that is more just.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a message similar to the one that buoyed Sanders\u2019s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs billionaires and Big Tech take more and more control over our lives and our government, we need leaders like Justin J. Pearson who have the experience and track record of standing up to the rich and power-hungry elites,\u201d Sanders said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tennessee is one of several Republican-led states where officials rushed to protect Trump and the GOP\u2019s chances of keeping power in what is expected to be a particularly difficult midterm cycle for Republicans mired in an unpopular war on Iran and an ever-increasing cost of living. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Trump said he spoke with Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who called the next day for a special session to redraw the maps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Using a practice known as \u201ccracking,\u201d the new map breaks the majority-Black district concentrated in and around Memphis\u00a0across three red districts, diluting the power of Black voters in the area. Pearson said he believed the antidemocratic move, while detrimental to his chances, was unpopular with voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people were really upset about the gerrymandered maps,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cI had about half a dozen Republicans who said they\u2019re going to be voting in our campaign and I\u2019d be the first Democrat they\u2019d be voting for in their lifetimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearson, who launched his campaign against Cohen in October with the backing of the progressive outfit Justice Democrats, received Sanders\u2019s endorsement the day after getting one from the Working Families Party, and four days after he returned from a listening tour in rural and Republican counties in the newly drawn district. His campaign said more than 750 people attended the gatherings.<\/p>\n

Attendees expressed frustration with being unable to afford housing, healthcare, and the things they need to live their daily lives, Pearson said. He said voters couldn\u2019t afford \u201cmore of the same\u201d when running against Cohen, and has now directed that message at his likely Republican opponent, state Sen. Brent Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of them were millionaires, both of them benefited from a status quo that\u2019s broken,\u201d Pearson told The Intercept. \u201cBoth of them don\u2019t like me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more An Army Whistleblower Believed in Pete Hegseth \u2014 Until the Military Covered Up Her Child\u2019s Abuse<\/a><\/p>\n

Also running in the August 6 Democratic primary are state Sen. London Lamar, who launched her campaign with Cohen\u2019s endorsement after he dropped out, and Jim Torino, a former executive at a healthcare company focusing on people with disabilities and founder of a social welfare nonprofit. Perennial candidate M. LaTroy Alexandria-Williams to run but has not filed any reports with the Federal Election Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pearson is the top fundraiser in the Democratic primary race so far, with just under $2 million, according to the campaign. Most of that has come from contributions under $200, according to the FEC data; the campaign said its average donation is $31. Torino has raised $117,000, and Lamar has not yet had to file any reports with the FEC.<\/p>\n

In addition to Sanders, Justice Democrats, and the Working Families Party, Pearson has backing from groups including MoveOn; Sunrise Movement; Indivisible; IMEU Policy Project and its Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC; as well as Reps. Summer Lee, D-Pa.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.<\/p>\n

Pearson said he believes federal legislation is needed to force states to support working people and improve public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to put this ban on AI data centers, we need to increase the minimum wage nationally, because the states won\u2019t do it,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cI\u2019m in a state House, they refuse to do it. We need to have national gun safety laws passed, because states refuse to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Pearson drew the ire of his Republican colleagues when he marched with protesters before the special session to redraw the state\u2019s maps. Three years earlier, Republicans voted to expel him and another Black Democratic lawmaker after they and one other Democratic colleague led a protest against the legislature\u2019s inaction on gun control after a deadly elementary school shooting in Nashville. Local officials reappointed Pearson and his colleague, state Rep. Justin Johnson, to the state House shortly after the vote.<\/p>\n

Pearson, Cohen, two other Democratic congressional candidates, four registered voters, and the Tennessee Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee\u2019s maps last month, but they dropped it last week, citing a political environment hostile to their cause. Pearson said other cases before the federal courts had \u201ca higher probability of success,\u201d pointing to voting rights suits from the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.<\/p>\n

Still, he expressed hope for his long-shot campaign in Tennessee. He pointed to a stop on his listening tour in the city where the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865, and where Pearson, who is Black, welcomed 150 people at a rally \u2014 his largest crowd throughout the tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a \u201crenewed vigor and enthusiasm because of what the Republicans have done \u2014 to show up in spite of them, in spite of what they\u2019ve tried to do,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cI think that\u2019s not something they probably calculated for when they did this racist redistricting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Civil Records for Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Could Be Wiped Out By Israel\u2019s Total War<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson challenged the last Tennessee Democrat in the House. Now he\u2019s up against the threat of total GOP control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBernie Sanders Backs Justin J. Pearson, House Candidate at the Heart of Tennessee Voting Rights Fight - New Home America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newhomeamerica.com\/?p=221\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bernie Sanders Backs Justin J. 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