Justin J. Pearson announced his run for Tennessee's 9th Congressional District Wednesday morning at Alonzo Weaver Park in Memphis. Now serving his second term in the state legislature, Pearson captured national attention when he — along with fellow Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson — weathered backlash from Republican colleagues for protesting lax gun laws in the wake of the 2023 Covenant School shooting as one of the “Tennessee Three.” His campaign is a direct challenge to Tennessee’s reigning elected Democrat, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a longtime Memphis politician currently serving his 10th term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Pearson first rose to prominence in 2020 as a key organizer behind community opposition to a proposed crude oil pipeline running through

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