Generation Z—born between the mid 1990s and the early 2010s—is the most diverse generation in American history, with nearly half of the Gen Z electorate in 2024 identifying as people of color. Gen Z has also come of age during the rise of school shootings, the COVID-19 pandemic and the first Trump presidency’s legislative attacks on reproductive freedom.

Now, with many Gen Zers graduating from high school and college and heading into their twenties and early thirties, this generation is stepping up to the plate to make a difference in this country. Ms. Studios’ new podcast The Z Factor, hosted by Harvard senior Anoushka Chander, interviews Gen Z voters, activists and lawmakers from across the country about the issues affecting young people in America today and how Gen Zers are fighting for a brighter future.

While 41 million Gen Z members voted in the Nov. 5 election, some Gen Z voters are old enough now to run for office themselves. In The Z Factor’s second episode, Chander interviewed 29-year-old Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, who serves Memphis. In 2023, he was the second youngest person to serve in the Tennessee Legislature. Since then, he’s advocated for climate and racial justice and gun violence prevention, introducing more than a dozen gun safety bills over the last year.

In April 2023, Rep. Pearson’s Republican colleagues expelled him from the Tennessee House for protesting on the House floor after a mass school shooting in Nashville killed six people, including three 9-year-olds. In Aug. 2023, he won back his seat with 94 percent of the vote and has also become a leader in gun safety advocacy, including speaking at this summer’s DNC.

On The Z Factor, Pearson and Chander chatted about advocacy, gun violence and being part of the newest generation of lawmakers.

First Advocacy

Rep. Pearson’s advocacy work started early. In 10th grade, he enrolled at a new school only to find that the school did not have as many textbooks and other resources as his previous school.

“It was really apparent to me, at 15 years old, that there was no way we were going to be able to access a college degree without even having textbooks,” he told Chander. His school was “being deprived of resources in a very intentional way,” he explained, while other schools across town had “a smorgasbord of resources and textbooks and information.”

Nine weeks after the school year started, Pearson went to the school board to ask for new textbooks, starting a movement that would lead to not just new textbooks but new AP classes, new teachers and a new principal over the next few years.

“Our entire school and the community benefited, not just those of us who were there at the time,” Pearson said.

Being a Young Representative

Pearson always knew he wanted to be involved in politics and government. His student office campaigns started when he ran for kindergarten president.

Now, as one of the youngest representatives in the Tennessee legislature, Pearson thinks his age allows him to bring in “a different perspective” and focus on different issues than his more jaded colleagues. Looking ahead, he’s hoping to see even more young general assembly members in the future. 

“We need to usher in a new generation of leadership, a new generation of perspective,” he told Chander, “because a lot of my colleagues, they don’t think about climate change and environmental justice the ways that we do.”

Gun violence, in particular, “has really been a staple of [Gen Z members’] lives,” but it’s an issue that legislators from older generations don’t always grasp the importance of quite as much as Gen Z, who regularly hear about kids their own age dying in school shootings.

As a representative, Pearson goes out of his way to hear the thoughts and experiences of his youngest constituents, visiting high schools, middle schools and elementary schools to hear directly from kids who care about their communities but aren’t yet old enough to vote. Next year, he hopes to launch a youth advisory board for Tennessee’s 86th District, “where all I do is listen and really hear what the problems and issues are of our younger constituents so that we can seek to address them.”

Gun Violence and Fighting for Change

Gun safety and prevention has been a cornerstone of Pearson’s platform for his whole political career, which is likely a big source of his popularity with the youngest voting bloc. “If it wasn’t for young folks,” he said, “I don’t think the conversation around gun violence prevention would be at the level that it is, and I’m really grateful to the young leadership that has really elevated this conversation in a way that it hadn’t been before.”

In the Tennessee House, Pearson has been pushing forward legislation banning assault weapons, repealing permitless carry for people with no firearm training and increasing mental health resources in attempts to reduce firearm suicide rates in different parts of the state. He has already introduced more than 20 gun safety-related bills, and is planning to bring at least 20 more into the next legislative session.

At the same time, Pearson is facing pushback not only from groups like the National Rifle Association and the Tennessee Firearms Association but from his fellow assembly members.

“We’ve got a supermajority Republican Legislature that does not really want to listen to the voices of all the people,” he said. “They are more keen to listen to the voices of the lobbyists and the corporations than of the individuals in our communities that are advocating for their voices to be heard.”

This legislative deadlock has made it hard for Pearson to pass bills about gun violence and other issues. He had one environmental justice bill pass through the subcommittee only to be defeated in the main committee. However, it was some of Pearson’s Republican colleagues who helped the bill get as far as it did, and “that possibility of finding common ground is something we can never give up on,” he told Chander.

As a young Black legislator, “racism, sexism, white supremacy [and] patriarchy are real challenges” that Pearson faces when trying to pass bills, “and they aren’t going away,” he said. 

At the same time, knowing that he got elected with 94 percent of the vote keeps him from feeling intimidated by reminding him of all the people who want him to serve their communities. For Pearson, compromising sometimes is necessary as a legislator. However, he says it’s best to start with the goal of finding common ground, not falling into a “deficit mindset” where both sides are convinced they have to give up something.

According to Rep. Pearson, “If you’re a woman, you got the Supreme Court telling you you’re not powerful. If you’re a person of color, you got an entire criminal legal system telling you you’re not powerful and political systems devised to make sure that people are told that they’re not powerful, but we are. We are powerful, and people are terrified of our power and of the beauty of an intergenerational, multiethnic, multi-socioeconomic movement for justice rooted in love, but we cannot be scared of our power. We have to be inspired by it, motivated by it and use it to help uplift everybody.”

New episodes of The Z Factor: Gen Z’s Voice and Vote podcast drop on Mondays.