Justin J. Pearson, the young activist who was essentially unknown until his major involvement in the successful 2021 effort to prevent an oil pipeline in South Memphis, is now a factor in local and state government, having won the special election in state House District 86 with relative ease.
With 716 votes in the District’s 19 precincts, Pearson came relatively close to winning an absolute majority in the 10-candidate field of the Democratic primary.. His closest opponent was the veteran political figure Julian Bolton, with 192 votes. At the age of 27, Pearson succeeds the much-loved longtime incumbent of the seat, Barbara Cooper, whose death last year at the age of 93 created the vacancy in District 86.
The size of Pearson’s plurality means, among other things, that plans by the Shelby County Commission to formally appoint the top vote-getter in a special called meeting on Wednesday can go forward with no doubts as to the validity of its action, there having been no entrant in the Republican primary, a fact making a scheduled special general election unnecessary.
