TN-09: One of the Democrats' Generational Battles: He's 76, His Opponent Is 31

[RandySF]

The phone call last October was ostensibly a courteous gesture from a onetime intern to his former boss ahead of a campaign announcement. It quickly turned sour.

You’re going to run behind me just like everyone else, Representative Steve Cohen, 76, the former boss and a veteran of 10 successful congressional runs in Memphis, told State Representative Justin J. Pearson, 31, who made the call.

Mr. Pearson ended the call with his own rebuttal: I’m going to beat you.

The two Democrats, who separately described the conversation, have not directly spoken since, and that flash of acrimony — months ahead of the August primary contest — is a sign of how personal the generational battle to remake the Democratic Party this year could become.



https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/us/politics/democrats-age-memphis-house-primary.html