MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Community organizer Justin Pearson won the special election to replace the late Tennessee State Representative Barbara Cooper with 52% of the vote.
Ten Democrats are vying for the Tennessee House District 86 seat.
Rep. Cooper was the oldest sitting legislator in Tennessee when she died in October at the age of 93.
TN State Assemblyman Barbara Cooper has died, House Dems confirm
Under Tennessee law, her name stayed on the November 8 ballot in House District 86. She won, creating a vacancy in the seat.
Pearson was a senior at Mitchell High School and graduated from Bowdoin College in 2017.
He is President and Founder of the Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP) and co-founder of the Memphis Community Against the Pipeline. The organization prevented a major oil pipeline from passing through his southwest Memphis neighborhood.
Justin J. Pearson brings the fight against the oil pipeline from his neighborhood in Memphis to the nation
According to his campaign website, Pearson is also a co-lead and strategic advisor to the Poor People’s Campaign: National Call for Moral Revival. He also helped direct a national non-profit human resource development organization, Year Up, which focused on social, racial, and economic justice and has received numerous awards.
Cooper was among the oldest lawmakers in the country. She was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 1996.
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