--- title: They Gerrymandered Away the District He’s Campaigning to Represent. He’s Still Running description: Lawmaker Justin Pearson says Tennessee Republicans erased Memphis’ Black political power as he campaigns in a newly redrawn district. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/05/27/Tennessee-gerrymander-redistricting-Justin-Pearson-voting-midterm-elections/ author: Philip Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-05-28T11:00:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-28T18:30:36.978Z article:section: Politics og:title: They Gerrymandered Away the District He’s Campaigning to Represent. He’s Still Running og:description: Lawmaker Justin Pearson says Tennessee Republicans erased Memphis’ Black political power as he campaigns in a newly redrawn district. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/05/27/Tennessee-gerrymander-redistricting-Justin-Pearson-voting-midterm-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe86284bb5815270/6a173dfffcb71648c54e9193/GettyImages-2274184334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2274184334.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: They Gerrymandered Away the District He’s Campaigning to Represent. He’s Still Running twitter:description: Lawmaker Justin Pearson says Tennessee Republicans erased Memphis’ Black political power as he campaigns in a newly redrawn district. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe86284bb5815270/6a173dfffcb71648c54e9193/GettyImages-2274184334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # They Gerrymandered Away the District He’s Campaigning to Represent. He’s Still Running > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a9ba39d5-dddd-4bbb-b198-6f0838cc3d1e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Tenn. state Rep. Justin J. Pearson is running for U.S. House, even after Republicans redrew his district [Watch (HLS stream): Tenn. state Rep. Justin J. Pearson is running for U.S. House, even after Republicans redrew his district](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QmH8NlHI.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2026-05-27. Lawmaker Justin Pearson says Tennessee Republicans erased Memphis’ Black political power as he campaigns in a newly redrawn district._  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang May 28, 2026 11:00 AM UTC  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang May 28, 2026 11:00 AM UTC [Justin Pearson](https://time.com/6301495/tennessee-justins-win-special-election/) had spent months campaigning to represent a [congressional district](https://time.com/6270660/tennessee-lawmaker-expulsions-guns/) in the [Memphis](https://time.com/7308925/elon-musk-memphis-ai-data-center/) area. Then, in just three days, Tennessee Republicans [erased](https://time.com/article/2026/05/05/republicans-redistricting-supreme-court-voting-rights-act-louisiana-alabama-tennessee/) it. The new map, passed in a special session and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee on May 7, split the only majority-Black district into three areas and folded them into adjacent Republican-leaning districts. In doing so, it transformed the 9th District from a solid Democratic seat into a Republican stronghold with an estimated nine-point advantage, according to an [analysis](https://www.cookpolitical.com/house/race/485216) by the nonpartisan organization Cook Political Report. For Pearson, the message was unmistakable. Months before voters would cast their ballots, a community that had long held political power in Memphis was being carved out of its own representation. “It's a very visceral, painful experience to see a community that I've been running to represent being changed so drastically and so significantly, to try and steal an election for the president of the United States,” Pearson told TIME in a phone interview from Memphis. The Democratic state representative, who launched his campaign in October, said he was not surprised that Tennessee lawmakers moved to redraw congressional lines days after President Trump [spoke](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116494706928688681) with Gov. Lee about seizing more Republican seats in Congress ahead of the midterm elections. But he found the speed of the process striking. The map was enacted three months before Tennessee’s primary election, making it the first gerrymandered map created after the Supreme Court [ruling](https://time.com/article/2026/04/17/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-Louisiana/) that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Pearson said that, as a state representative, he was not able to see how the changes would affect the seat he was seeking until the penultimate day of the special session. But defiance has long defined Pearson. In 2023, Pearson and his colleague state Rep. Justin Jones were expelled from the legislature for [leading a protest](https://time.com/6309961/tennessee-cameron-sexton-shove-justin-peason-guns/) inside the state Capitol demanding gun reforms after a deadly school shooting in Nashville. Both lawmakers were unanimously reinstated after their expulsions drew widespread [criticism](https://time.com/6301495/tennessee-justins-win-special-election/) as anti-democratic overreach. “I don't come from a family of quitters. This community did not build me and make me a quitter. We are fighters. We're fighters for justice, for equality, for fairness, for our democracy, and for what every person needs and deserves,” he said. Shortly after the state legislature announced the newly passed congressional map, Pearson joined hundreds of civil rights leaders, lawmakers, and voters protesting the gerrymandering. Soon after, he was [stripped](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYSPRgEx%5Fnl/) of all of his committee assignments. Republicans in Tennessee have maintained that the move to eliminate the last Democratic district in the state was justified following the Supreme Court ruling. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who is running for Tennessee governor, [proposed](https://x.com/VoteMarsha/status/2049515547910381782) a 9-0 map on X in late April, saying that keeping Tennessee red is "essential" to cement Trump’s agenda. “The court sided with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision for a colorblind society and said that racial preferencing doesn’t belong in our elections, just as it doesn’t belong in college admissions,” Sen. Blackburn [wrote](https://www.dailywire.com/news/marsha-blackburn-redraw-tennessees-lines-now) in an op-ed explaining her proposal. Pearson’s campaign is unfolding against a rapidly shifting national political landscape ahead of November’s elections. Since 2025, [eight states](https://time.com/article/2026/05/05/republicans-redistricting-supreme-court-voting-rights-act-louisiana-alabama-tennessee/) have changed their congressional maps, while Alabama and Louisiana have also moved to redraw theirs. According to the latest nonpartisan [analysis](https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/a-simple-model-for-forecasting-the-impact-of-mid-cycle-redistricting-on-the-2026-house-elections/) by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Republicans could gain up to 10 additional seats from the new maps being drawn. For Pearson, the speed of the redistricting push reflects how quickly racism is moving to disenfranchise Black voters in America, especially in the South. “It has not deterred us from what we are doing. It has not deterred us from what we believe is necessary and is possible, even in a district that they've cracked and tried to silence our voices,” he added. With less than 90 days left before the primary election, Pearson is now running in a newly redrawn district that stretches from the Memphis metropolitan area into rural parts of Tennessee. The map is also subject to ongoing legal challenges. On Wednesday, a federal judge denied a request by a group of Black voters, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), to [block](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.109174/gov.uscourts.tnmd.109174.40.0.pdf) the map before the primary election. The voters are expected to appeal the decision, adding further uncertainty. “I've even had Republicans come up to me and say, ‘what they're doing is unfair. What they're doing is wrong. They're trying to cheat to win instead of winning over people with their ideas,’” Pearson said. He also noted that during the special session, Republicans eliminated a [law](https://tcog.info/bill-eliminates-requirement-to-notify-voters-with-new-polling-places-in-new-congressional-districts/) requiring voters to be notified by mail when their districts change, leaving many voters he has met on the campaign trail unaware that they are now in a redrawn district. “This has been a very chaotic and opaque process. A lot of people know that something is going on, but too few really know the consequences of what it means for them,” he explained. Pearson, who continues to receive endorsements from [progressive](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYewuaFEVgW/?img%5Findex=1) [lawmakers](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYhptUGkTRG/?img%5Findex=1) nationwide, has called for more political investment in the South from the national establishment. “What it cost some folks to run for Congress in California would be the cost of a strong gubernatorial race in Mississippi or Tennessee. We just have not seen the value being placed on the South that is necessary,” he said. That dynamic has also played out within the South, where Democratic candidates have found themselves [competing](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/us/politics/wasserman-schultz-redistricting.html) [against](https://missouriindependent.com/2026/04/20/missouris-emanuel-cleaver-is-running-for-reelection-where-though-is-uncertain/) one another amid the redistricting battle. Pearson is facing state Sen. London Lamar, who was endorsed by retiring Rep. Steve Cohen. Still, Pearson and his team say they are returning to the fundamentals of campaigning: knocking on doors, holding community events, planting yard signs, and speaking to voters about what’s happened to their district. He said he’s confident about his chances of winning the district, old map or new, because the issues facing voters did not disappear when Republicans remade the political terrain. “They don't care about our community and our community's ability to have a voice, and that's sad and a tragedy in its own sense,” he said. “It is also igniting a power and a thirst for justice in our community that we haven't seen, felt, or experienced in a little while.” _Correction, May 28_ The original version of this story mischaracterized Justin Pearson as currently serving Tennessee's 9th Congressional District. He is campaigning to represent it. ## Transcript The Supreme Court came down with a heart wrenching decision, an opinion that gutted section two of the Voting Rights Act, which was the seminal piece of legislation of the civil rights movement that guaranteed access to voting and the ballot in a more equitable way for communities that have been disenfranchised. Two days later, uh, Donald Trump and Bill Lee decided that they would take the only majority black congressional district in the state of Tennessee away. I represent Memphis and Shelby County in the state House of Representatives and was running to serve district nine. I knew they were going to take away the only black majority district in the state. These are many of the same people who expelled me three years ago for standing up against gun violence after a mass shooting took the lives of six people. And it's a very visceral, painful experience to see a community that I've been running to represent since October being changed so drastically and so significantly to try and give, uh, and steal an election for the president of the United States. That being said, it has not deterred us. We're not quitters. I'm not a quitter. I don't come from a family of quitters. This community did not build me and make me to be a quitter. We are fighters. We need more help. We need more endorsements. We need financial resources. We need more engagement. Um, and we need people here on the ground helping us as we map this out and push the story forward. So we need some coordination where it is possible and real support. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/05/27/Tennessee-gerrymander-redistricting-Justin-Pearson-voting-midterm-elections/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/05/27/Tennessee-gerrymander-redistricting-Justin-Pearson-voting-midterm-elections/"},"headline":"They Gerrymandered Away the District He’s Campaigning to Represent. 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