Justin Pearson

Justin Pearson has been elected to Tennessee House District 86, replacing longtime State Rep. Barbara, Cooper, D-Memphis, who was re-elected to the seat after her death in October. At the time of her death, Cooper was the oldest-serving member of the General Assembly. Pearson defeated a crowd of 10 candidates in the January Democratic primary with 52% of the vote. With no other candidates running for the seat in the March general election, the Memphis City Council voted to send Pearson to the State House as an interim until his term becomes official. Pearson, 28, is a graduate of Bowdoin College and is present and founder of Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP) and co-founder of Memphis Community against the Pipeline. Pearson is also the co-lead and the strategic advisor for the Poor People’s Campaign: National Call for Moral Revival. He also helped lead a national workforce development non-profit, Year Up, which focused on social, racial, and economic justice and has received numerous awards.