Tennessee House primary puts Democratic Party's generational divide on display

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson is challenging 10-term House incumbent Steve Cohen, turning the Democratic primary into the latest test of the party’s debate over age.

David Hogg's political group, established to elect younger people to office, is pledging $1 million to Pearson.

In his announcement video, Pearson described himself as a "Memphian, born and raised, who understands how to build bridges across race, identity, ethnicity and generations in order to build the future that we want to live into.”

“We always stand up against those who try to silence us, push us to the periphery, push us to the back, in the places that should represent us,” Pearson added. “Now, I am ready to fight for us in the United States Congress.”

The primary represents the latest clash between generational forces in the party, with the 30-year-old Pearson taking on the 76-year-old Cohen. A wave of Democratic primary candidates, from California to Indiana to Georgia, are challenging longtime incumbents whom they feel are weak leaders at a time when the party is searching for a path back to power. They argue the party needs a stylistic makeover, led by a younger generation of candidates.

Pearson didn’t name-check Cohen in his launch video, but a pair of his progressive backers did. Hogg, who co-founded Leaders We Deserve and pledged to challenge “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats, urged Cohen to “pass the torch” in a statement. Justice Democrats called Cohen an “average absentee congressman” who “rarely shows up in the community, campaigns for support or holds town halls … while still cashing checks from corporate PACs.”

Cohen is also the only white member from either party to represent a majority-Black district.

Pearson and Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones gained national attention for their expulsion, then reinstatement, to the state legislature in 2023. The pair led a gun control protest on the state House floor after six children were murdered at a Christian school in Nashville.

Cohen, who was first elected in 2006, has faced primary challenges before and he’s usually crushed his opponents. In 2024, he won with nearly three-quarters of the vote.