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'This Moment Calls for a True Fighter': Progressive Group Backs Justin Pearson for Congress
"Justice Democrats is so proud to endorse Justin J. Pearson to bring people-first leadership to Tennessee's only Democratic district," said the group's executive director.
Oct 08, 2025
Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, currently running to represent the 9th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, was endorsed Wednesday by the national progressive group Justice Democrats, which said his history of fearless leadership is precisely what the country needs to combat the authoritarian push by Republicans, including President Donald Trump.
"Justice Democrats is so proud to endorse Justin J. Pearson to bring people-first leadership to Tennessee's only Democratic district," said the group's executive director, Alexandra Rojas, in a statement.
The candidate said he was "honored" to have the group's support, and its investment gives him "the opportunity to join the ranks of progressive, working-class champions" in Congress, pointing to Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
"We look forward to fighting alongside them in their visionary efforts to identify, nurture, and uplift bold, progressive, and courageous leaders to help our country overcome corporate greed, white supremacy, patriarchy, inequality, authoritarianism, and other attacks on democracy," he added.
"The communities and rising young leadership Justin represents in the 9th are on the frontlines of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's war on working families."
Pearson, who represents the 86th District in the Tennessee House of Representatives, which includes parts of Memphis, garnered national attention as one of the "Tennessee Three" in 2023, when the chamber's Republicans expelled him and Rep. Justin Jones (D-52) over their protest for stricter gun laws in the wake of the deadly Covenant School shooting in Nashville. Local officials quickly reinstated both men.
The 30-year-old's congressional campaign comes as Trump has sent National Guard troops to multiple US communities, and The Associated Press reports that they "could also be in Memphis by Friday." Pearson is among the local elected officials who have spoken out about sending soldiers to the city.
"The communities and rising young leadership Justin represents in the 9th are on the frontlines of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's war on working families," said Rojas. "They are showing the country, like so many other major cities under attack, what it means to truly come together to protect one another, not roll over, and fight back."
"This district does not have time to wait or keep going with the same status quo leadership that has governed for decades," she continued. "Tennessee voters need more than congressional letters and tweets—they need a congressperson that will fight with every tool at their disposal to deliver real, tangible change with solutions as big as the crises we face."
Justice Democrats shared a launch video on social media, arguing that "this moment calls for a true fighter like Justin."
"He is part of a wave of working-class, progressive candidates who are vital in the federal fight to take on Trump's authoritarianism, realign the Dem Party, excite our base, and turn out who we need to win up and down the ballot," said the group—which is also supporting Donavan McKinney's primary challenge to Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan's 13th District and Angela Gonzales-Torres in her race against Congressman Jimmy Gomez in California's 34th District.
In an interview published Wednesday, Pearson spoke with The Nation's Chris Lehmann about his Democratic primary challenge to 10-term incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen. According to the magazine's DC bureau chief, the Memphis native expressed gratitude for the congressman's service but emphasized his "working-class background against Cohen's status as a veteran Capitol Hill insider who recently purchased a condominium in Washington," and added that "he would diverge from Cohen's stalwart support for Israel in Congress."
Lehmann noted that "Justice Democrats, in the tradition of campaign advocacy groups, goes after Cohen more directly in its statement endorsing Pearson," calling out the 76-year-old incumbent for "cashing checks" from corporate political action committees while embracing "the model of the average absentee congressman."
"His lack of engaged and active representation has lowered expectations Memphians have for their congressperson," Justice Democrats said, "further eroding civil engagement and inspiring political cynicism in a working-class community already under attack on all sides."
In addition to Justice Democrats, Pearson is backed by Leaders We Deserve, a group led by former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, who said in a statement, "In this moment of crisis, I'm calling on Rep. Steve Cohen to pass the torch to Justin J. Pearson—a transformational leader who can inspire a new generation."
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Progressive Group Supports Angela Gonzales-Torres' Primary Challenge to AIPAC-Backed Jimmy Gomez
"This is about standing up to corruption, calling out a genocide when we see one, and building a Los Angeles that we can afford," said Angela Gonzales-Torres, the candidate endorsed by Justice Democrats.
Sep 04, 2025
The progressive political action committee Justice Democrats on Thursday threw its support behind Angela Gonzales-Torres, a primary challenger to incumbent Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez in California's deep blue 34th District.
"Angela is exactly what Los Angeles needs in Congress right now: a working-class champion with the moral courage to not only fight back against the Trump administration's cruelty with the urgency it demands but also take on the Democratic Party when the corporate establishment fails to fight for our communities," Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement.
The support from Justice Democrats—known for helping to elect "Squad" members including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)—comes as Republican President Donald Trump threatens to copy his militarized anti-immigrant attack on Los Angeles in other Democrat-led US cities.
"While Donald Trump is terrorizing our city, kidnapping our friends and neighbors, kicking us off our healthcare, why is our member of Congress funded by Trump's biggest donors and voting for his harmful agenda?" Gonzales-Torres asked in a Thursday video announcing the group's endorsement of her.
Gonzales-Torres launched her campaign in April. She's not the first primary challenger Gomez has faced. Since winning a 2017 special election, he has continuously bested his primary opponents, including David Kim in the past three cycles.
"In the 2024 race, Kim called for cutting off US military funding to Israel and drew fire from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and its super PAC, United Democracy Project," The Intercept reported Thursday. "Kim also supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and called for an international court to prosecute illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Kim endorsed Gonzales-Torres, who previously volunteered for his campaign."
Gonzales-Torres told the Los Angeles Times that "I think that Angelenos want to see change. And what we are seeing is our current Congress member accepting $2.3 million from AIPAC, then failing to co-sponsor the only bill calling for a ceasefire."
"And what we are seeing is Jimmy Gomez taking, you know, $500,000 from crypto lobbies, then voting to further Trump's corrupt crypto agenda," Gonzales-Torres added. In the new video from Justice Democrats, she also highlighted Gomez's record of taking money from other corporate interests.
"We're doing things differently. I am not taking a dime from AIPAC or any corporate PAC money," Gonzales-Torres said. "This is about standing up to corruption, calling out a genocide when we see one, and building a Los Angeles that we can afford, not just the wealthy or well-connected."
She also recalled her experience growing up in Los Angeles, including the deportation of her father when she was just 15. With her dad back in Mexico, Gonzales-Torres' mother worked as a waitress to support their daughters, and they spent time living in shelters and their car, according to The American Prospect.
"Experiencing family separation, economic insecurity, housing instability, and all of the trauma that comes with it has only made me more committed to fighting for my community, and for all of the Angelenos for whom that is a daily struggle, like it was for my family," she told the Prospect. "Los Angeles deserves better, and I'm determined to get it for us."
While Justice Democrats is accustomed to facing off against AIPAC—which last year backed successful primary challenges to two Squad members, former Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—the progressives group's endorsement in this race is notable because of some of the incumbent's positions.
Gomez is "far from a hard-line pro-Israel voice in Congress" and "hardly a moderate: The Eagle Rock resident has more in common with the Justice Democrats slate than many of the members they have previously tried to unseat," the Times reported, noting his support for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, his speech at Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) Fighting Oligarchy event in Los Angeles, and Ocasio-Cortez's 2024 endorsement of him.
Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi pointed to the congressman's campaign cash.
"Jimmy Gomez got to Washington and closed the door on his community behind him to embrace the same corporate PACs and right-wing lobbies that are raising costs for Angelenos and demanding their tax dollars fund genocide," Andrabi told The Intercept. "In a city that has become ground zero for Donald Trump's war on immigrant families, Angelenos deserve a leader whose donors will never dictate how hard they fight back."
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To Beat Back Trump's GOP in 2026, Progressive Leader Says 'Corporate' Dems Must Go
"Voters have made their feelings clear," said the leader of Justice Democrats. "The majority do not see themselves in this party and do not believe in its leaders or many of its representatives."
Aug 14, 2025
A top progressive leader has given her prescription for how the Democratic Party can begin to retake power from US President Donald Trump: Ousting "corporate-funded" candidates.
Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas wrote Thursday in The Guardian that, "If the Democratic Party wants to win back power in 2028," its members need to begin to redefine themselves in the 2026 midterms.
"Voters have made their feelings clear, a majority do not see themselves in this party and do not believe in its leaders or many of its representatives," Rojas said. "They need a new generation of leaders with fresh faces and bold ideas, unbought by corporate super [political action committees] and billionaire donors, to give them a new path and vision to believe in."
Despite Trump's increasing unpopularity, a Gallup poll from July 31 found that the Democratic Party still has record-low approval across the country.
Rojas called for "working-class, progressive primary challenges to the overwhelming number of corporate Democratic incumbents who have rightfully been dubbed as do-nothing electeds."
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in June, nearly two-thirds of self-identified Democrats said they desired new leadership, with many believing that the party did not share top priorities, like universal healthcare, affordable childcare, and higher taxes on the rich.
Young voters were especially dissatisfied with the current state of the party and were much less likely to believe the party shared their priorities.
Democrats have made some moves to address their "gerontocracy" problem—switching out the moribund then-President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race and swapping out longtime House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) for the younger Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.).
But Rojas says a face-lift for the party is not enough. They also need fresh ideas.
"Voters are also not simply seeking to replace their aging corporate shill representatives with younger corporate shills," she said. "More of the same from a younger generation is still more of the same."
Outside of a "small handful of outspoken progressives," she said the party has often been too eager to kowtow to Trump and tow the line of billionaire donors.
"Too many Democratic groups, and even some that call themselves progressive, are encouraging candidates' silence in the face of lobbies like [the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee] (AIPAC) and crypto's multimillion-dollar threats," she said.
A Public Citizen report found that in 2024, Democratic candidates and aligned PACs received millions of dollars from crypto firms like Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreesen Horowitz.
According to OpenSecrets, 58% of the 212 Democrats elected to the House in 2024—135 of them—received money from AIPAC, with an average contribution of $117,334. In the Senate, 17 Democrats who won their elections received donations—$195,015 on average.
The two top Democrats in Congress—Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)—both have long histories of support from AIPAC, and embraced crypto with open arms after the industry flooded the 2024 campaign with cash.
"Too often, we hear from candidates and members who claim they are with us on the policy, but can't speak out on it because AIPAC or crypto will spend against them," Rojas said. "Silence is cowardice, and cowardice inspires no one."
Rojas noted Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who was elected in 2022 despite an onslaught of attacks from AIPAC and who has since gone on to introduce legislation to ban super PACs from federal elections, as an example of this model's success.
"The path to more Democratic victories," Rojas said, "is not around, behind, and under these lobbies, but it's right through them, taking them head-on and ridding them from our politics once and for all."
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