“People Power is our strength and is how we will win.”
Rep. Justin J. Pearson
IMPORTANT ISSUES & SOLUTIONS
We have an opportunity to meet this moment by answering the call for justice, fairness, and hope for every person in Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. We must have a leader who will work and fight for our district and our democracy!
From Shelby County to Tipton County, Memphis to Cordova to Covington and everywhere in between – it’s about all of us working together to create the future we deserve. Together, we know the solutions to the problems we face. Below are just a handful. If there is an issue that you want to see listed, reach out to us at info@votejustinj.com.
Environmental and Climate Justice
Our district has some of the worst polluters in the country. Our district has become a dumping ground for polluting corporations and greedy CEOs—like Elon Musk and xAI—who see our community as the “path of least resistance” to line their pockets with billions more in profits while we are left with more hospital visits and funerals. Every person deserves clean air, clean water, and clean soil. It is a human right to be able to breathe, drink clean water, and plant in clean soil. That right is being taken from us by corporations. I’ve helped lead the fight against many of those companies and we’ve had successes. I promise to continue to do that as well for you in Congress.
In Congress, I will fight to:
Get more laws and policies that protect our community’s health
Advocate for better policies locally and at the state level
Ensure the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does its job
Secure funding to help with the medical expenses our families have to take on due to pollution
Create million of union jobs to build the green economy all of us deserve to have a part in and benefit from.
Be a leader on tackling the climate crisis and its affects across District 9 and the country, including economic effects for farmers
End Poverty & the Affordability Crisis with Economic Opportunity
Every one can not be guaranteed the same outcomes but every one deserves the same access to opportunities. Without good-paying jobs and wages, we will never eradicate poverty in District 9. Our District is beautiful and also has some of the highest levels of poverty in the nation. 22.2% of people live below the poverty line and 33% of our children live below the poverty line. That has been worsening for the last two decades I’m not a millionaire or independently wealthy. I grew up in poverty watching my parent struggle to lift my four brothers and I out of it. I know and have lived the struggles being faced by my constituents in District 9. It’s time to do something.
In Congress, I will fight to end poverty by:
Writing legislation to increase the minimum wage county-by-county using the MIT Living Wage Calculator
Working to double the Earned Income Tax Credit which would lift half of children in the country out of poverty
Taxing the richest people in our country’s income
Cutting taxes on working class people and end the grocery tax
Creating the first-ever union liaison position and unionize the District 9 Congressional Office in Memphis and DC
Standing on the side of labor unions and on the picket line too
Investing in quality educational opportunities for our students
Fighting for Good Life-sustaining jobs and training opportunities in this economy
Supporting Guaranteed Basic Income programs for poor people and people impacted with job loss by automation
Ending the Gun Violence Epidemic
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in Tennessee and in District 9. I’m proud to have written the most in the 113th General Assembly l to address the gun violence epidemic This issue is personal to me. I have lost my beloved brother, cousin, classmates, and mentor due to gun violence. I was expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly as one of the “Tennessee Three” after peacefully protesting to end the gun violence epidemic demanding that my Republican colleagues do something after the largest mass shooting in Tennessee’s history. I will be an advocate in Congress to fight for laws that protect us nationwide. If you or a loved one is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, please call 988.
In Congress, I work tirelessly to end this epidemic by:
Advocating for national Extreme Risk Protection Orders or ‘Red Flag Laws’
Passings laws like a national ban on 80% guns being shipped without serial numbers
Seeking to have Mandatory Waiting Periods and Firearm Education before purchases
Fighting for accessible mental health resources for people who are struggling
Affordable Housing
Everybody has a human right to shelter. Yet, in Memphis and District 9, over 1,000 residents are unhoused. Those who can afford housing are facing sky-rocketing rents and are being priced out of communities where they have lived for years by greedy developers and real estate corporations. Rent is too high. Younger people, families and older people on fixed incomes are being hurt the most. This is a moral crisis. My faith reminds me in Matthew 25 that we have moral and legislative responsibility to ensure housing and food justice for all.
In Congress, I will:
Fight for a universal rent caps to stop price gouging
Work to pass better tenant rights protections for renters
Limit multi-national corporations from buying up neighborhoods and jacking up rents
Support more funding than ever before for affordable housing
Pass Housing-first legislation and policies at the federal level and work more on the local level with housing advocates
Healthcare for All
Healthcare is a human right, but in Tennessee, our state refuses to expand Medicaid while at the same time Trump and Republicans are gutting Medicare and Medicaid to give billionaires tax breaks. No one should fear a hospital bill putting them into poverty.
We need Medicare for All because no family deserves to lose a loved one because of fear of the costs burdening their loved ones so much that they would rather not be alive. Medicare for All would mean no premiums, deductions, or copays for coverage including, vision, dental, ortho, reproductive health, mental healthcare, as well as, community-based long-term support services to ensure the crucial services our disabled community relies on are prioritized, not forgotten.
In Congress, I will do everything within my power to:
Stop drug companies from hiking up their prices beyond what consumers can afford
Cut the costs being charged for life saving and life sustaining medicine
Support legislation that overhauls the insurance system, so people stop profiting off our illnesses
Make sure everyone, regardless of income or occupation, has access to healthcare
Help rural hospitals to re-open that have been devastated by the Trump agenda
Fight for dental, ortho, vision, and reproductive healthcare to be covered
Supporting Our Veterans
Veterans in District 9 have been deprived of over $600M in benefits and compensation and nothing has been done at the federal level to address this disparity. It’s unconscionable and unacceptable which is why I have been helping to connect veterans to advocate for more resources to care for those who have served our nation faithfully. No veterans should be suffering in District 9 or around the country after serving this nation. My Grandaddy Curtis served in the 101st Airborne in Vietnam and earned two Purple Hearts but was denied benefits for decades. That’s wrong.
In Congress, I will honor the service of veterans by:
Dedicate more members of my staff to support veterans in Shelby County than ever before
Write legislation to adequately educate and inform veterans about their benefits before they are discharged
Collaborating with organizations to increase the number of veterans in Shelby County who receive their benefits
Addressing the inequality with the ratings veterans, who have similar challenges, are receiving different places
Working to pass laws that guarantee attorneys at no-cost to veterans whose claims are denied unjustly
Protecting Immigrant Communities
We are witnessing Donald Trump exploit an already unjust and inhumane immigration system with an assault on our fundamental values, terrorizing immigrant communities with masked agents and taking over our cities like a tyrant. Republicans use immigrants to divide our communities against each other, while corporations exploit them for cheap labor. The solution to both is building a pathway to citizenship so we can stand together for better wages, jobs, and rights for all of us and defeat those seeking to divide us. District 9 welcomes immigrants from all over the world. My faith compels me to serve all people, especially the immigrant “for you shall love [immigrants] as yourself, for you were once strangers in Egypt."
In Congress, I will stand up for our immigrant communities by:
Supporting the ACLU and others who are working to end the illegal and unconstitutional ICE raids, mass deportations, and disappearances
Bringing forward legislation to make private prisons illegal and stop for-profit detention
Working with my colleagues, national and community organizations to create a path to documentation and to citizenship
Defending Dreamers who were brought to this nation by parents seeking opportunity
Fighting against the separation of children and their families
Advocating for more judges to review asylum cases and support the people seeking freedom at the border
Educational Equity & Funding Our Schools
Our public education is under attack by right-wing extremists who want to erase our histories from our student’s textbooks, ban books, defund public schools, and line the pockets of private school corporations and CEOs instead of our teachers and schools. Education is the most important investment we can make in our young people. We need to make sure every child has the tools to be successful in college or in careers by bringing back trades into school, as well as ensuring every school has the equipment and tools to educate children. It is past time for a national law guaranteeing increasing public school teachers’ salaries annually so they aren’t applying for SNAP while working 50+ hours a week. My Dr. Mommy has been a public-school teacher for 23 years. I know teachers need more and deserve more for their students and families.
In Congress, I will speak up for teachers and students by:
Demanding teachers get a pay raise and funding for classroom supplies and professional development
Learning and working legislatively to rollback the Trump administration’s horrendous attack on public education
Demanding more funding to Title I schools like my alma mater, Mitchell High School for technology, textbooks, and trades
Supporting more post-secondary tracks other than going to college by including technical and skilled labor career paths
Having a national law that ends Welfare checks for the Wealthy with private school vouchers
LGBTQIA+ RIGHTS
LGBTQIA2S+ Rights are human rights. Radical Republicans and extremist are blaming queer people and immigrants for everything that is going wrong in our country instead of looking at their own moral and policy failures that are crippling us. I do not support oppressing anybody. God created everybody as a beloved person. We need to stand united to protect all vulnerable community’s right because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. Tennesse passes the most anti-queer and hate-filled legislation compared to any other state. They have typically had a queer Republican present these laws for passage which is double-sad. I am not standing for oppressing anybody. We’re in this fight together.
In Congress, I will defend the right over every person to live and to love freely by:
Making sure we have policies and laws that uphold Obergefell and Bostock court rulings
Advocating for laws that protect all queer people from discrimination, especially Black and Brown people
Supporting children and their parents with educational resources at the community-level to safely support every member of the family
Refusing to hate people because that is against my religion
Foreign Policy
How does Congress easily could come up with billions for bombs and private military contractors but not billions to solve chronic problems in our District 9? The entire State of Tennessee’s budget is $60 Billion. The Pentagon will spend 14 times that this year alone. It’s time to end the era of bottomless defense budgets that line the pockets of CEOs while fueling war and destruction abroad. Our taxpayer dollars should not be funding war; it should be funding a better future for our families in District 9.
In Congress, I will advocate to use our power to:
Stop sending American taxpayer dollars for the arming and bombing of other countries and people
Reclaim Congressional authority for the declaration of war and stop presidents from funding wars and joining in fights in other nations without the support of the US. Congress
Defend the sanctity of every person’s life especially those who are being starved as an act of war or are being killed seeking aid which is immoral and irreprehensible
Demand that we have a diplomacy-first mindset and stand against the status quo “peace through strength and fear” mentality of this current administration and Congresspeople who desire war