Justin Pearson wins Democratic primary for Tennessee's redrawn 9th District
Retiring Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), who has represented Memphis in the 9th District for nearly two decades, saw the writing on the wall and dropped his bid for reelection after the state’s redistricting move, leaving the primary open to Pearson and Lamar.
The primary race between Pearson and Lamar became another ideological battle between a progressive and a more traditional Democrat, a primary trend that has dominated the Democratic Party’s story throughout the 2026 election cycle.
Pearson earned endorsements from the anti-establishment likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), while Lamar won the backing of Cohen, one of the area’s most prominent Democratic leaders.
Lamar’s agenda focused on issues such as lowering the cost of living through affordable housing, childcare, and utilities; stabilizing rural hospitals; and protecting food security programs, while Pearson campaigned on progressive platform issues such as advancing “Medicare for all,” fighting back against reported environmental effects of data centers, and “poverty eradication,” as his website says, through steps like increasing the minimum wage and taxing the rich.
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Pearson’s win notches another victory for the more progressive side of the Democratic party, following Abdul el Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Senate race over centrist Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) this week.