An outspoken progressive running for Congress in the Tennessee district at the center of Republicans’ efforts to sabotage voting rights and maintain control of the House earned the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday.

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson found himself the unexpected front-runner in the Democratic primary when two-decade incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen dropped out last month, after new gerrymandered maps throttled his chances of winning reelection. The redrawn 9th Congressional District and sudden shakeup mean that rather than running against the last Democrat representing Tennessee in the House, Pearson is facing a Republican machine bent on delivering an all-GOP delegation for President Donald Trump.

The new map hurts the chances for Pearson — or any Democrat — to win in November, but the candidate said he’s running on a platform focused on wealth, income inequality, and corporate overreach that aims to appeal across party lines. “You’ve got a number of disaffected Republican voters, you’ve got a number of distraught MAGA voters, and you’ve got fired-up Democrats, which is a perfect recipe for success for us,” Pearson told The Intercept. “Because our tent is big enough for everybody who is feeling that this status quo was rigged and broken against working-class folk, and want to see a future that is more just.” 

It’s a message similar to the one that buoyed Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. 

“As billionaires and Big Tech take more and more control over our lives and our government, we need leaders like Justin J. Pearson who have the experience and track record of standing up to the rich and power-hungry elites,” Sanders said in a statement. 

Tennessee is one of several Republican-led states where officials rushed to protect Trump and the GOP’s chances of keeping power in what is expected to be a particularly difficult midterm cycle for Republicans mired in an unpopular war on Iran and an ever-increasing cost of living. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Trump said he spoke with Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who called the next day for a special session to redraw the maps. 

Using a practice known as “cracking,” the new map breaks the majority-Black district concentrated in and around Memphis across three red districts, diluting the power of Black voters in the area. Pearson said he believed the antidemocratic move, while detrimental to his chances, was unpopular with voters.

“A lot of people were really upset about the gerrymandered maps,” Pearson said. “I had about half a dozen Republicans who said they’re going to be voting in our campaign and I’d be the first Democrat they’d be voting for in their lifetimes.”

Pearson, who launched his campaign against Cohen in October with the backing of the progressive outfit Justice Democrats, received Sanders’s endorsement the day after getting one from the Working Families Party, and four days after he returned from a listening tour in rural and Republican counties in the newly drawn district. His campaign said more than 750 people attended the gatherings.

Attendees expressed frustration with being unable to afford housing, healthcare, and the things they need to live their daily lives, Pearson said. He said voters couldn’t afford “more of the same” when running against Cohen, and has now directed that message at his likely Republican opponent, state Sen. Brent Taylor.

“Both of them were millionaires, both of them benefited from a status quo that’s broken,” Pearson told The Intercept. “Both of them don’t like me.”

Also running in the August 6 Democratic primary are state Sen. London Lamar, who launched her campaign with Cohen’s endorsement after he dropped out, and Jim Torino, a former executive at a healthcare company focusing on people with disabilities and founder of a social welfare nonprofit. Perennial candidate M. LaTroy Alexandria-Williams filed to run but has not filed any reports with the Federal Election Commission. 

Pearson is the top fundraiser in the Democratic primary race so far, with just under $2 million, according to the campaign. Most of that has come from contributions under $200, according to the FEC data; the campaign said its average donation is $31. Torino has raised $117,000, and Lamar has not yet had to file any reports with the FEC.

In addition to Sanders, Justice Democrats, and the Working Families Party, Pearson has backing from groups including MoveOn; Sunrise Movement; Indivisible; IMEU Policy Project and its Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC; as well as Reps. Summer Lee, D-Pa.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

Pearson said he believes federal legislation is needed to force states to support working people and improve public safety.

“We need to put this ban on AI data centers, we need to increase the minimum wage nationally, because the states won’t do it,” Pearson said. “I’m in a state House, they refuse to do it. We need to have national gun safety laws passed, because states refuse to do it.”

In May, Pearson drew the ire of his Republican colleagues when he marched with protesters before the special session to redraw the state’s maps. Three years earlier, Republicans voted to expel him and another Black Democratic lawmaker after they and one other Democratic colleague led a protest against the legislature’s inaction on gun control after a deadly elementary school shooting in Nashville. Local officials reappointed Pearson and his colleague, state Rep. Justin Johnson, to the state House shortly after the vote.

Pearson, Cohen, two other Democratic congressional candidates, four registered voters, and the Tennessee Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s maps last month, but they dropped it last week, citing a political environment hostile to their cause. Pearson said other cases before the federal courts had “a higher probability of success,” pointing to voting rights suits from the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Still, he expressed hope for his long-shot campaign in Tennessee. He pointed to a stop on his listening tour in the city where the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865, and where Pearson, who is Black, welcomed 150 people at a rally — his largest crowd throughout the tour. 

There is a “renewed vigor and enthusiasm because of what the Republicans have done — to show up in spite of them, in spite of what they’ve tried to do,” Pearson said. “I think that’s not something they probably calculated for when they did this racist redistricting.”

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• Major U.S. companies are seeking billions in refunds for tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down.
• It remains uncertain if customers will receive reimbursements, though some companies like UPS, FedEx, and Walmart have announced plans to pass on savings.
• A USA TODAY analysis found at least 90 publicly traded companies plan to seek refunds, with some having a significant presence in Tennessee.

Some of the United States’ largest companies are seeking billions in tariff refunds from the government, but whether customers will see any reimbursements remains unknown.

A USA TODAY analysis of over 630 Securities and Exchange Commission filings found that at least 90 publicly traded companies plan to seek refunds, highlighting their efforts to reclaim billions of dollars following the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the tariffs imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Other tariffs remain in place.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun processing refund claims for the $166 billion that may be at stake. Among the largest, Ford is seeing a $1.3 billion refund; General Motors, $500 million; and UPS, $500 million, according to their filings.

Of the three, only UPS announced plans to refund customers. “UPS will disburse refunds 60-90 days after we receive the funds from CBP,” the company said on its website. 

Here is how much Tennessee companies are seeking in reimbursements.

How much could TN companies get back from Trump tariffs?

USA TODAY compiled the government filings from 92 firms that mention tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Of those 92 companies, over two dozen have a noteworthy business presence in Tennessee.

In total, Tennessee companies requested $3.014 billion from the government.

Here is how much the companies with headquarters or significant manufacturing facilities in Tennessee are requesting in refunds from the government:

• Canadian Solar Inc.: $93 million
• Capri Holdings LTD: $65 million
• Cardinal Health: $200 million
• Columbia Sportswear: $80 million
• Deere & Co.: $272 million
• Eastman Chemical Co.: $22 million
• FedEx: amount sought not specified
• Flowserve Corp.: $35.4 million
• Fluence Energy Inc.: $57 million
• General Motors Co.: $500 million
• Integra LifeSciences Holdings: $18.7 million
• Magna International Inc.: $160 million
• Mantiwoc Company: $25 million
• Newell Brands Inc.: $120 million
• Osh Kosh Corp.: $19.7 million
• Procter & Gamble: $200 million
• TJX Companies Inc.: $490 million
• Tootsie Roll Industries Inc.: $1.3 million
• UFP Industries Inc.: $20 million
• Under Armour Inc.: $70 million
• Walmart: amount sought not specified
• West Fraser Timber: $3 million
• Whirlpool: $50 million
• Williams Sonoma Inc.: $197.8 million
• Yeti Holdings Inc.: $66.5 million
• Zebra Technologies Inc.: $75 million
• Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.: $77 million

Are some companies passing on tariff refunds to customers?

Of the $166 billion on the table, U.S. consumers are unlikely to see much of it end up in their pockets. Earlier, Trump had even floated the idea that the revenue from these tariffs could be used to send $2,000 checks to Americans, but those plans never materialized. 

Cardinal Health, a major medical supply distributor, incurred roughly $200 million in tariffs and passed some of those costs on to its customers. The company plans to refund customers for any portion of tariffs incurred as a result of price increases during that period.

However, given that its customers include businesses, hospitals, and pharmacies, it’s uncertain whether these savings will reach end consumers.

FedEx is also expecting to recover, but did not specify by how much in its filings. Like UPS, the company does plan to pass money on to customers.