Table Of Content
- Tennessee House moves to expel 3 Democrats after gun protest
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- U.S. Senate
- What to know about the "Tennessee Three": Why were two of the Democratic lawmakers expelled, and what happens now?
- When do I vote?
Lee, meanwhile, has avoided commenting on the lawmakers’ expulsions, saying the controversy is a House issue. Political tensions rose when Pearson, Johnson and Jones, from the House floor, joined with hundreds of demonstrators who packed the Capitol to call for passage of gun control measures. The House’s vote to remove Pearson and Jones but keep white state Rep. Gloria Johnson drew accusations of racism. Republican leadership denied that race was a factor, noting that Johnson’s role in the protest didn’t involve some steps that Jones and Pearson took, including speaking into a bullhorn. Just two other House members have ever been ousted from the chamber since the Civil War. Fielding questions from lawmakers, Johnson reminded them that she did not raise her voice nor did she use the bullhorn — as did the other two, both of whom are new lawmakers and among the youngest members in the chamber.
Tennessee House moves to expel 3 Democrats after gun protest
The bill was briefly debated on the House floor last week but support remained unclear. Interest in the reparations bill emerged again this year, just as lawmakers and GOP Gov. Bill Lee were in the process of finalizing the removal and replacement of every board member of the state’s only publicly-funded historically Black public university, Tennessee State University. That sparked more outrage among critics who contend that Tennessee’s white GOP state leaders have long refused to trust Black local leaders.
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In a dramatic act of political retribution, Republicans moved to expel the three Democrats from the legislature, and on April 6 two of them, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, were ousted in votes that passed largely along party lines. The third lawmaker, Representative Gloria Johnson, narrowly avoided expulsion by one vote. In Tennessee, just eight lawmakers have been expelled from the house in the past. Six of those were Confederates who were expelled in the 19th century for refusing to affirm the citizenship of formerly enslaved Black people. In the 20th century, a legislator was expelled after being convicted of bribery, and in 2016, a member was expelled for sexual misconduct.
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Before Pearson returned to the chamber, lawmakers cheered and applauded as the police officers who responded to the deadly March 27 mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school shooting — the event that prompted the gun control protest — were honored in the chamber. Democratic state Rep. Bob Freeman praised the officers’ bravery but also stressed to his fellow lawmakers that “inaction is not an option” on how to respond to the tragedy. Hundreds of protesters packed the Capitol last week calling for the Republican-led Statehouse to pass gun control measures in response to the Nashville school shooting that resulted in the deaths of six people.
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Although she's now retired, Johnson said that she still spends a lot of time on school campuses and that whenever she hears the cry of police siren or an ambulance, she jumps. Lawmakers began to take up the question of expelling three of their colleagues shortly after 1 p.m. During the proceeding, loud protests could occasionally be heard from off the chamber's floor. Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery also called a special meeting over Pearson's expulsion. The two vacant seats will be filled, and both Jones and Pearson could soon return to the legislature. According to the Tennessee state Constitution, because there are less than 12 months before the next election, the successor is to be elected by the legislative body of the replaced legislator's county of residence.
What to know about the "Tennessee Three": Why were two of the Democratic lawmakers expelled, and what happens now?
Sarah Shoop Neumann's letter criticized gaps in training and burdening teachers with the responsibilities of confronting an assailant with a gun while keeping an entire classroom safe. Republicans denied Democratic assertions that introducing more guns into schools will endanger children. “This is nothing but a bad disaster and tragedy waiting to happen if we do not ensure personal responsibility," House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said. "Our children’s lives are at stake." Armed teachers, who will be required to undergo training that some opponents have argued is not intensive enough, will be allowed to carry handguns in their classrooms and in most campus situations without informing parents and most of their colleagues they're armed. To qualify for election to the House, one must be 21 years old, a U.S. citizen, a state resident for three years, and a resident of the county in which elected for one year immediately preceding the election. She added, "This kind of expulsion, while deeply problematic from a democracy standpoint, provides a good way to score those points."
Tennessee lawmakers to vote whether to expel 3 Democrats over gun control protest
With two House seats left vacant, the authority to name temporary replacements fell to the local governing bodies in the districts that had been represented by Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. Tennessee House Republicans said on social media that if Jones and Pearson return to the House, they hope that the duo will "act as the thousands who have come before them — with respect for our institution, their fellow colleagues and the seat they hold." He'd been one of the youngest members of the legislature and represented the state's 52nd district, which has about 70,000 residents and is part of Davidson County, the Nashville metro area.
A few hours later, House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison referred to Jones as the “former representative” during the evening session. Johnson, a retired teacher, said her concern about school shootings was personal, recalling a day in 2008 when students came running toward her out of a cafeteria because a student had just been shot and killed. Dozens of protestors in the galleries began chanting "Blood on your hands" as soon as the legislation passed, prompting House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, to order state troopers to clear the galleries.
Johnson, 60, is a retired teacher who spoke of her experience surviving a school shooting before her vote. She represents the state's 90th district, part of Knox County, and is currently serving her fourth term in the legislature. Republicans, who hold a large majority of seats, immediately pledged a rapid response. (Pearson was newly elected and had yet to receive any committee assignments.) Motions to expel the three from the legislature were introduced by three different Tennessee Republicans on April 3, accusing the trio of "disorderly behavior."
They used a bullhorn on the House floor, speaking without being recognized and leading protests calling for gun restrictions as Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the chamber, stood by. Upon Pearson’s return to the House floor, lawmakers debated legislation that deals with the teaching of “divisive concepts” regarding race, gender and sex on college campuses. After a brief spirited debate involving Pearson and Jones, Republicans used procedural rules to immediately halt discussion and force members to vote on the bill.
Jones also noted the rare instances in which the House or Senate have taken such a drastic measure against a sitting, elected representative. The trio, whom supporters call "The Tennessee Three," have already been stripped of their committee assignments. "Unfortunately, we were obligated to levy unprecedented consequences on those members today. Our focus continues to be on the six innocent lives that were brutally taken last week at the Covenant School, not those who have chosen to make this tragedy about themselves." After the votes were concluded, she suggested that she had survived the process because she is White and Jones and Pearson are Black. Justin Jones, 27, was the first of the "Tennessee Three" to be expelled from the House, by a vote of 72-25.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the political party of a group of representatives who notably voted “no” on new aid for Israel. "The United States cannot continue to support the extreme offensive that has caused unimaginable suffering to the Palestinian people." The House floor also fell into chaos after the vote over the bill, which was paused last year in the aftermath of the Covenant shooting and raucous protests over Republican supermajority inaction on gun issues.
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