Justin Pearson projected to win Democratic nomination for District 9 congressional race
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - State Representative Justin J. Pearson is projected to become the Democratic candidate in the race for Tennessee’s new District 9 congressional seat for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Pearson leads the Democratic primary race with over 22,000 votes.
Brent Taylor is leading the Republican primary. If both candidates win their parties’ vote, Pearson will face Taylor in the Tennessee General Election on November 3.
The polls closed at 7 p.m. Thursday. Results are still coming in.
Pearson currently serves District 86 in the Tennessee House of Representatives. He won the seat in 2022 following the death of Rep. Barbara Cooper, who died days before the midterms.
Pearson has been vocal against the state’s redrawn congressional lines, calling the redistricting an attack on local Black communities that used to make up the majority of District 9.
The newly redrawn U.S. House District 9 now stretches from Shelby County all the way through Decatur and Hardin Counties, in…