In Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, Brent Taylor (R) ran against Justin Pearson (D). Taylor is white. Pearson is Black. Pearson intended to run in Memphis, which has a large Black vote. But the ultra rightwing legislature gerrymandered Memphis, dividing it in 3 and adding each piece to a largely white rural district. The intent was to remove a seat that would elect a Black. The district was designed by the Legislature to elect a white person.
Republican Brent Taylor won the Tennessee 9th Congressional District race, defeating Democrat Justin Pearson. Brent Taylor (Republican): had 111,968 votes (49.63%) Justin Pearson (Democrat) had approximately 109,500 votes (48.5%)
Taylor’s margin was about 2,500 votes.
About a week before the election, Taylor was at the center of a scandal. He had allegedly sent “dick pics” to women he didn’t know. For most candidates, a scandal of this magnitude would doom their candidacy (think Anthony Weiner of New York, who did the same thing and lost his political career).
Brent Taylor admitted that he had engaged in this practice as late as 2021. He said it was “youthful indiscretion.” He was 53 in 2021.
The white rural voters who elected Taylor made it clear that they were not bothered by candidates who share “dick pics.”
They elected Brent Taylor.
One other notable fact: Taylor is white. Pearson is Black.
Isn’t a runoff still possible if at this point?
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I think the vote would have to be much closer to trigger a recount. We don’t do runoffs.
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Yes, I see that Pearson conceded. In Alaska, though, it appears we may have a runoff.
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Roy,
If there were Elon Musk ads, they would have supported white Guy with dick pics, not Black Guy
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Is a runoff not still possible?
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53 years old is not a stupid high school or even college age “youthful” indescretion. How will he vote on holding Epstein hearings for obstruction (finally), internet warnings and social media education for minors, going after the “tech bros” one of whom started his billions dollar venture by ranking college women.
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It’s pathetic how obvious and transparent the racism of those Tennesseans is to any thinking human being with a brain and a heart.
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Pearson was an impressive candidate. He is articulate, passionate, and principled. The problem was that there was no Elon Musk to fund attack ads by the hundreds. You can bet, if the shoe had been on the other foot, that hundreds of ads would have painted the picture very clearly. I doubt many of the voters knew he was accused at all, so narrow is the journalism that carried information to the public. Add to this that only 50% of the eligible voters cast a ballot at all.
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