Democrat Justin Pearson Rallies Williamson County Voters as Early Voting Kicks Off

To a packed pavilion in Brentwood’s Granny White Pike, state Rep. Justin Pearson gave his stump speech for the 9th Congressional District hours before early voting began. 

“Speeches and polls don't win elections. They can inspire you, they can motivate you, but when people talk about this campaign, they're not talking about me and the sexy afro,” the Memphis Democrat said. “They're talking about us.”

Pearson, who currently represents Tennessee’s House District 86 (Memphis), brought his signature preacher-style energy to the hopeful crowd of a little more than 100 supporters.

“We've got thousands of miles more on the van. We've met thousands more people than we thought we would have, and we are building [a] community and coalition that is transformational in a moment that our country is desperately in need of change, in a moment that our state is desperately in need of change. And we know we've got the right message. We know this is the right momentum. Because they’re scared,” Pearson said.

Pearson, who has been endorsed by former Vice President Kamala Harris, has been characterized as a radical since he was expelled from the state house (before later being reappointed by his constituents) for taking part in a protest on the House floor following the 2023 Covenant School shooting. Tennessee Republicans further shunned him for taking part in protests earlier this year as Republicans successfully splintered the state congressional maps, splitting Memphis into three districts.

“All they got is hate,” he said of MAGA Republicans. “All they got is confusion. All they got is ‘you're a communist or a Marxist or a socialist or this.’ We got all the other things. All I know is y'all terrified. That's what we know. And if we are scaring the status quo, that means we are doing something right,” he said.

During his Oct. 10 Clarksville rally, President Donald Trump name-dropped Pearson, calling him  “one of the most radical candidates in the country.”

“Everything they [Democrats] want is bad,” and that Republicans “want the exact opposite” from Democrats,” Trump said. 

On Tuesday, Pearson responded, agreeing with Trump that the two parties “want the exact opposite.”

“They want an endless war killing people halfway across the world. We want to lower costs for working families. We want to lower costs, lower energy costs. We want to stop gas prices from being so high. We want to stop grocery prices from being so high. We want to stop healthcare costs from being so high. We want the opposite,” Pearson said. “They want to give billionaires more tax breaks. We want to tax billionaires. They want data centers built in our community. We want a data center moratorium to protect our air, our water and our soil. We want the exact opposite.”

Pearson called his Republican opponent, the Trump-endorsed District 31 State Sen. Brent Taylor (Shelby County), a “egotistical, maniacal person.”

Pearson pitched four major platform issues, including passing Medicare for all, removing big money from the political system by ending Citizens United, passing a national extreme risk protection order “for anyone who's a danger to others and themselves will not have access to firearms,” and federal jobs guarantee legislation for Americans who lose their jobs to automation, artificial intelligence or robotics.

“We did it with FDR. We need to do it again, and we need to get it so everyone is able to have a good job,” Pearson said.

The competitive race is in the newly redrawn 15-county district that stretches from Shelby to Moore Counties, many of which are rural. It splits Williamson along with 5th Congressional District. The map means that Pearson is not just vying for the votes of Democrats, but independents and even Republican voters who may be disillusioned with the GOP.

“We have a broad coalition of supporters, and I think in Williamson County, what's been most powerful is neighbors talking to neighbors. It's neighbors who are Democrats, neighbors who are Republicans, who are politically engaged, and who are not,” Pearson told the Williamson Scene. “That's actually helping us to make headway in this county when otherwise it would have probably been a little bit more challenging.”

Two of those neighbors, Laura Mazur and Carla Temple, both of Nolensville and attended Tuesday’s rally, met and bonded over seeing a Pearson campaign sign in one of their yards.

Temple told the Williamson Scene that she became politically engaged following the 2023 Covenant School shooting, when she saw firsthand Pearson’s interactions with grieving mothers and students during protests at the Tennessee State Capitol. 

Temple spoke about her support of Pearson and helped to sign attendees up to canvass, offering some advice to the newly-engaged voter. 

“Make sure that you're voting for somebody that holds your values, whatever side of the coin they happen to fall on, Temple said. “That's the most important thing is to be informed because if you aren't at the dinner table, you're on the menu. You might not be into politics, but politics is into you.”

Another attendee, Bailey Fohr, also of Nolensville, asked Pearson if he was elected and if he would commit to hosting town halls, which he agreed to do so. Fohr voiced her concerns with not being able to reach her congressional representatives when she was let go from her job that contracted with USAID, a department the Trump administration dissolved last year. 

“The big narrative was ‘we're draining the swamp, we are getting rid of corrupt people in Washington,’ but that's not the reality. We live in your community. We are your neighbors,” Fohr told the Williamson Scene.

“My job personally was to evaluate the programming to see what was working and what wasn't, and so I really want to push back against the fraud, waste and abuse narrative, and I think it doesn't really hold up when the richest man in the world cut that [department] out, and then we're turning around and sending all of that money to a foreign war.”

Pearson spent much of his hour-long appearance not just giving a speech, but getting attendees to sign up for door knocking and phone bank shifts and directly answering audience questions. 

Upon one attendee asking about donating to the campaign, a spontaneous fundraising celebration began with Pearson raising several thousand dollars on the spot as he chanted the name of each individual contributor with the crowd erupting in cheers. He also stayed for about half an hour after the event, meeting individually with supporters.

“Folks are already saying we're going to need a Tennessee miracle, and I said if it's going to happen anywhere, it's going to happen in Tennessee, because look, this district was plus 21 for Donald Trump, and we're within four points. We can do this. We can do this,” Pearson said. “They are already calling that the miracle. I said, just keep watching. We're not done yet, but it is going to take some work.”

Early voting started Oct. 14 and runs through Oct. 29.