Sanders Endorses Justin Pearson Amid Tennessee Voting Fight

Sanders endorses – Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed state Rep. Justin Pearson in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, where a gerrymandered map and the abrupt exit of Rep. Steve Cohen have reshaped a high-stakes voting-rights battle. Pearson says he’s running against a Republican

When Sen. Bernie Sanders put his name behind state Rep. Justin Pearson on Tuesday, the endorsement landed in the middle of Tennessee’s fight over who gets political power—and who doesn’t.

Pearson has emerged as the unexpected front-runner in the Democratic primary for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District after Rep. Steve Cohen, a two-decade incumbent, dropped out last month. Cohen’s exit followed new gerrymandered maps that throttled his chances of winning reelection. leaving Pearson to run in a district redrawn in a way that he argues weakens Democratic—and especially Black—voting strength.

The stakes are immediate. The redrawn 9th District is being framed as part of Republicans’ push to deliver an all-GOP delegation for President Donald Trump. Pearson said he knows the map hurts Democrats’ odds in November. But he’s betting that voters across the political spectrum are angry enough at the status quo to turn his candidacy into a referendum on wealth and power.

“You’ve got a number of disaffected Republican voters. you’ve got a number of distraught MAGA voters. and you’ve got fired-up Democrats. which is a perfect recipe for success for us. ” Pearson told The Intercept. He described his campaign as a big-tent effort aimed at people who feel the system is “rigged and broken against working-class folk.”.

Sanders echoed that theme in a statement. “As 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,” Sanders said.

The endorsement comes as Tennessee—one of several Republican-led states—has acted quickly in the wake of a federal ruling that narrowed the Voting Rights Act. 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. Lee called for a special session the next day to redraw the maps.

Using a practice known as “cracking,” the new map breaks the majority-Black district concentrated in and around Memphis across three red districts, diluting the power of Black voters in the area. Pearson said he believes the move, while detrimental to his chances, was unpopular with voters.

“A lot of people were really upset about the gerrymandered maps,” Pearson said. “I had about half a dozen Republicans who said they’re going to be voting in our campaign and I’d be the first Democrat they’d be voting for in their lifetimes.”

That pitch is rooted in his campaign message after he launched his run against Cohen in October. backed by the progressive outfit Justice Democrats. Pearson received Sanders’s endorsement the day after he received an endorsement 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.

Pearson said attendees told him they’re frustrated by being unable to afford housing. healthcare. and the basics needed to live their daily lives. He said they rejected “more of the same” when running against Cohen—and he has since aimed that same argument at his likely Republican opponent. state Sen. Brent Taylor.

“Both of them were millionaires, both of them benefited from a status quo that’s broken,” Pearson told The Intercept. “Both of them don’t like me.”

The numbers behind the race so far show how hard Pearson is pushing to make that case. Pearson is the top fundraiser in the Democratic primary, with just under $2 million, according to the campaign. The campaign said most of that money has come from contributions under $200, and it said its average donation is $31. Torino has raised $117,000, and Lamar has not yet had to file any reports with the FEC.

Pearson’s financial advantage is only part of a crowded August 6 Democratic primary. Also running are state Sen. London Lamar. who launched her campaign with Cohen’s 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 filed to run but has not filed any reports with the Federal Election Commission.

Pearson has support not just from national progressive groups but from elected Democrats. In addition to Sanders. Justice Democrats. and the Working Families Party. his campaign 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.

Pearson has also argued that federal legislation is needed to force states to support working people and improve public safety. He laid out several priorities, including a national approach to AI data centers, minimum wage policy, and gun safety.

“We need to put this ban on AI data centers, we need to increase the minimum wage nationally, because the states won’t do it,” Pearson said. “I’m in a state House, they refuse to do it. We need to have national gun safety laws passed, because states refuse to do it.”

His candidacy has already come with direct confrontation. In May. Pearson drew the ire of his Republican colleagues when he marched with protesters before the special session to redraw the state’s maps. Three years earlier. Republicans voted to expel Pearson and another Black Democratic lawmaker after they and one other Democratic colleague led a protest against the legislature’s inaction on gun control following 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.

There has also been legal fallout tied to the map. Pearson. Cohen. two other Democratic congressional candidates. four registered voters. and the Tennessee Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s maps last month. but they dropped it last week. citing a political environment hostile to their cause. Pearson pointed to other cases before the federal courts that he said had “a higher probability of success. ” including voting rights suits from the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Even as he acknowledged the difficulty of his position, Pearson said he believes the campaign is gaining traction. He pointed to a stop on his listening tour in the city where the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865. Pearson said that in that place, he welcomed 150 people at a rally—his largest crowd throughout the tour.

There is a “renewed vigor and enthusiasm because of what the Republicans have done — to show up in spite of them, in spite of what they’ve tried to do,” Pearson said. “I think that’s not something they probably calculated for when they did this racist redistricting.”

Bernie Sanders Justin Pearson Tennessee 9th Congressional District voting rights gerrymandering Voting Rights Act Supreme Court Steve Cohen Brent Taylor London Lamar Jim Torino