Augusta-area special election pits Kemp against Trump-aligned social media sensation
Pearson aims to become Georgia's youngest lawmaker
C.J. Pearson has been in the political spotlight since he was a teenager, earning a large internet following over the years for his brash political commentary and staunch support for former President Donald Trump.
Now 21 years old, the Augusta native is aiming to become Georgia’s youngest lawmaker as he vies for an open state house seat. But not if Gov. Brian Kemp and his allies have their way.
Pearson’s biting words on social media and close relationship with the former president have put him on a collision course with the mainstream guard of the Georgia Republican Party. He managed Vernon Jones’ quixotic primary challenge to Kemp, which Jones would eventually abandon for a doomed run for Congress.
Pearson also supported efforts to try and overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia and was at the state capitol when several Republicans signed certificates falsely declaring that Trump had won the Peach State and its 16 electoral votes.
So it’s no surprise that Gov. Kemp is going all in for Gary Richardson, Pearson’s opponent in an upcoming runoff election. The two Republicans emerged as the top vote-getters in a low-turnout jungle primary this month.
District 125, which spans Columbia and McDuffie counties, opened up after Kemp tapped state Rep. Barry Fleming (R) to fill a vacant judgeship.
It didn’t take long for the gloves to come off. A Kemp-aligned fundraising committee has sent out mailers attacking “Pacific Coast Pearson,” reminding voters in the Augusta-area district that Pearson left the University of Alabama in his junior year to take a job with PragerU, a conservative think tank based in Los Angeles. One flier even pointed out Pearson’s endorsement of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election.
“CJ Pearson is - and always has been - a grifter who has no principles beyond his own benefit,” said Cody Hall, a top Kemp aide.
Allies of the second-term governor also filed legal challenges to Pearson’s residency in an attempt to kick him off the ballot, which a judge rejected.
Pearson has brushed off these attacks as a “rogue operation.”
“I can’t imagine Gov. Kemp signing off on fake attacks against a Gen Z Republican who is growing our party with both African-Americans and young people,” a spokesman for Pearson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Those constituencies could really help Republicans win in 2024.”
Pearson has leaned his campaign heavily on issues that tend to animate the Republican base. He held a town hall at a church in Columbia County railing against LGBTQ-themed books spotted on shelves at the local library.
He also says that he plans to impeach Fani Willis for bringing an indictment against Trump, highlighting the recent accusations of impropriety against the embattled Atlanta prosecutor.
“If [DA Willis] wanted to be Nathan Wade’s sugar mama, that’s her prerogative,” Pearson said on X. “But to use taxpayer dollars to do it? That’s corruption.”
In Gary Richardson, Pearson faces a Columbia County Commissioner who has emphasized his years of involvement in local politics rather than echoing the attacks on his opponent.
“I just consider myself as a public servant, and I enjoy it, and that’s why I wanted to offer myself back up for this opening,” Richardson told a local news station. “Our country has turned away from their moral compass and it just seems like there’s in-fighting, disagreements, no common ground. And I want to be that person that can engage and bring that to the forefront.”
Richardson, for his part, has also talked up his conservative credentials. He says that he plans to “one hundred percent fund and help support” Georgia’s law enforcement community if elected and that he would like to send help to states he says are being harmed by the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
Pearson and Richardson will square off in a March 12 runoff election — concurrently with Georgia’s presidential primary. But with lawmakers set to head home for the year on March 28, the winner will likely take their seat under the Gold Dome just as the sun begins to set on the 2024 session.