C.J. Pearson began his career in politics at an early age after being inspired by a mock election in his Georgia elementary school. Since then, he has become a well-known political activist and the president of the Free Thinkers, a group he founded. He’s currently a freshman at the University of Alabama and was recently nominated to serve as an elector for the state of Georgia.
On Wednesday, Pearson spoke at a Stop the Steal rally in Alpharetta, Georgia, led by Sidney Powell. While Powell has helped Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, she doesn’t work directly for Trump. According to Fox News, Powell has made several unsubstantiated claims that the presidential election was fraudulent and that Dominion’s voting machines were to blame. At a press conference Wednesday, Powell and fellow pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood told the crowd to not vote in the upcoming U.S. senate runoff on Jan. 5 in Georgia until the state changes its procedures and ends the use of Dominion voting machines.
“I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all until your vote is secure – and I mean that regardless of party,” Powell said. “We can’t live in a republic, a free republic, unless we know our votes are legal and secure. So we must have voter ID, and we probably must go back to paper ballots that are signed and have your thumbprint on them. We certainly should be able to find a system that can count them, even if it has to be done by hand.”
Pearson tweeted a video of the rally and stated, “We are no longer the party of John McCain. We are no longer the party of Mitt Romney. We are no longer a party of cowards. We are the party of @RealDonaldTrump.”
We are no longer the party of John McCain. We are no longer the party of Mitt Romney. We are no longer a party of cowards.
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) December 2, 2020
We are the party of @realDonaldTrump.
pic.twitter.com/tqx6aiNgfd
Trump’s legal team, headed by Giuliani, has made several unsuccessful court challenges in several states, arguing voter fraud. Attorney General William Barr stated that the Justice Department hasn’t found widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election. Pearson is named as a plaintiff in Pearson v. Kemp, a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The lawsuit alleges voting irregularities in the presidential election. Governor Brian Kemp is named as one of the defendants.
Pearson isn’t without controversy. In 2015, when he was just 13 years old, he gained notoriety for criticizing then-President Barack Obama in a highly viewed youtube video. After that, he accused Obama of blocking him on his official presidential Twitter account. Obama hadn’t blocked him, and a backlash ensued.
Benji Backer, a young political activist who left the public spotlight, commented on the controversy, “I tried to give CJ advice,” Backer wrote. “And I know he’s going to lash out at me now. But we used to work together. I told him he had promise but that he had to keep it in perspective, truth [sic]and stay humble. Stardom can ruin those things and it did for him. CJ & I (when I was still in politics) were going to work on some things. But he didn’t like advice and he wanted ‘his brand’ to grow instead. People, including myself, tried to help CJ. I really thought he could do great things. But he wasn’t willing to listen. Most of all, CJ lied to me. Numerous times. And many people I know and love. That’s when I knew there was a problem.”
