Candidate briefing
Justin Pearson is a Memphis state representative and was the 2026 Democratic nominee for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. One of the “Tennessee Three,” he was expelled from the legislature after a gun-violence protest on the House floor and then returned to office by voters.
Pearson won the August 6 Democratic primary in a district Republicans redrew from a Memphis-centered Democratic seat into a much tougher map. Backed by DSA, Our Revolution, and Indivisible, he finished about one point behind Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor in unofficial November 3 results and conceded on November 4, saying Tennessee politics will never be the same.
Why Political Revolution supports him: he turned a moral stand on gun violence into a congressional campaign — and he is still organizing in a district designed to erase Memphis.