Conservative activist C.J. Pearson enters race for Georgia House District 125 seat

Joe Hotchkiss, Augusta Chronicle
·2 min read
C.J. Pearson, whose online commentaries advocate conservative politics and values, is running for Georgia House District 125, which includes parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties.
C.J. Pearson, whose online commentaries advocate conservative politics and values, is running for Georgia House District 125, which includes parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties.

A 22-year-old conservative activist from Grovetown, who shot to national internet fame in middle school for his online political commentary, is running for the Georgia House of Representatives.

C.J. Pearson announced Wednesday that he will campaign for the House District 125 seat vacated by incumbent Barry Fleming, who resigned to accept a state superior court judgeship with the new Columbia Judicial Circuit.

That brings the current total to four registered candidates for the House constituency that covers roughly the western half of Columbia County and the northern half of McDuffie County.

“The people of my district don’t want to elect just another Republican to this seat,” he said in a prepared statement. “They want to elect a conservative who knows how to fight like the future of our country is on the line. Because it is – make no qualms about it.”

Pearson’s first taste of elected office was as Columbia Middle School’s seventh-grade class president in 2014. But just months later, a video in which Pearson leveled pointed criticism at President Barack Obama vent viral, thrusting him suddenly into the national political scrum.

Here comes the judge: Governor names Harlem state Rep. Barry Fleming to Columbia Judicial Circuit bench

Pearson has since become a supportive public face among Republicans as the party continues to pursue younger Black voters. His online commentary on social media channels includes duties as host of The Wrap Up, a featured online program for conservative digital media nonprofit PragerU. His work has been featured by national news outlets including Fox News, the New York Post and USA Today.

Also running for the House District 125 seat are:

  • Gary Richardson, who owns an area chain of car washes and was a former District 3 Columbia County commissioner. He filed as a Republican on Jan. 9.

  • James Steed is a third-generation farmer whose family dairy is on Wrightsboro Road. He filed as a Republican on Jan. 8.

  • Kay Turner is a cosmetologist and cosmetology instructor who filed as a Democrat on Jan. 10.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Conservative activist C.J. Pearson to run for House District 125 seat