A Tennessee Democrat pushed a state trooper and screamed in his face as tempers flared when lawmakers gathered to approve new Republican-backed congressional maps on Thursday.
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson (D), known for his tirades against the state’s conservative majority and his shapeshifting personality, got into a confrontation with state troopers who were attempting to secure the state capitol as leftist protesters converged on the area. In a video captured by ABC’s Nashville affiliate WKRN, state troopers appeared to be attempting to detain a man when Pearson stepped in and shoved the trooper’s arm away.
“Move the f*ck back!” Pearson shouted as he stared down the law enforcement officer.
The state trooper backed away and held his arms in the air as Pearson continued to berate him and call him “boy.”
“What the f*ck is wrong with you?” Pearson screamed. “What the f*ck is wrong with you? You stupid motherf*cker!”
Warning: explicit language
Rep. Pearson came to the gallery as troopers appeared to arrest a demonstrator. There’s a heated exchange. pic.twitter.com/Dq76zVrTtW
— Tori Gessner (@ToriGessnerTV) May 7, 2026
Pearson’s meltdown occurred just before Tennessee Republicans voted on Thursday to approve new congressional maps that will likely wipe out the Democrats’ only U.S. House seat in the state. Republican Governor Bill Lee signed the bill into law shortly after the vote. The special session in Tennessee’s capital was quickly organized after the Supreme Court ruled that certain majority-black districts put in place by the Voting Rights Act amounted to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
During the special session, hundreds of protesters entered the state capitol and claimed that state Republicans were enacting “Jim Crow 2.0” and “Modern Apartheid.” Another video captured by WKRN showed leftist protesters refusing to leave the Capitol building after state troopers began clearing the gallery.
Some protestors are now refusing to leave and chanting in the gallery. pic.twitter.com/uYtLGiltOq
— Tori Gessner (@ToriGessnerTV) May 7, 2026
Rep. Steve Cohen, who currently serves the lone Democratic district in Tennessee that has been upended by the new map, accused Republicans of “enforc[ing] a racial gerrymander of Memphis.”
“Trump knows he HAS TO rig the game to keep his majority in November. And the TN GOP was willing to go along with it. It’s shameful. Next stop is the courts,” Cohen added.
Republican state leaders celebrated the vote as the party will likely boast a 9-0 advantage in Tennessee’s Congressional delegation come November.
“It’s a great day for Tennessee! Thank you to President [Donald Trump] for leading the charge, Governor [Bill Lee], and to the legislators who worked quickly and diligently to make this possible,” Blackburn posted on X. “This is how we cement President Trump’s agenda and usher in America’s Golden Age here in Tennessee, and how we become America’s conservative leader.”
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.
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