Justin J. Pearson wins District 86 primary 2 months after expulsion from Tennessee House

Justin J. Pearson won his Democratic primary, a step toward being reelected to his District 86 seat in the Tennessee State House Thursday. Pearson won the primary with 2,084 votes over opponent David Page's 125 votes according to preliminary results from the Shelby County Election Commission.

Pearson will face Independent Jeff Johnston in the special general election in August. If reelected, Pearson will end up being sworn in for the fourth time in less than a year.

The young elected official gained national prominence when he and another state representative, Justin Jones, D-Nashville, were expelled from the state House after leading gun reform chants that disrupted House proceedings three days after three 9-year-olds and three adults were shot and killed at The Covenant School in Nashville.

A third representative, Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, was also threatened with expulsion but retained her seat by a single vote.

Pearson was originally elected to the District 86 seat in a special election primary in January. Shelby County Commissioners then appointed him, allowing him to be sworn in before the general election in March, in which he had no opponents.

That meant he had already been sworn in twice when he was reappointed to the seat by the commission in April after his expulsion.

Among the youngest Black lawmakers in Tennessee, Pearson first came to prominence in Memphis when he co-founded the grassroots organization Memphis Community Against the Pipeline in response to a planned crude oil pipeline that would have cut through backyards in South Memphis, particularly in the Boxtown neighborhood.

Related: Sexton to support FedExForum funding amid rumors of retaliation to Pearson reappointment

The work of MCAP, now called Memphis Community Against Pollution, has been credited with stopping the pipeline plans from Plains All American.

Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Justin Pearson wins 2023 primary election 2 months after TN expulsion