NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Two former black Democratic lawmakers who were ousted by Republican colleagues in Tennessee said they would be reappointed, then elected back to their seats, after their ouster to protest on the House floor urging passage of gun-control measures in the wake of a school shooting. deadly.
The Nashville metro council will likely elect Justin Jones to the seat during a special meeting Monday. Mickell Lowery, chairman of the Shelby County Commission, said in a statement Friday that the panel will consider at Wednesday’s meeting whether to reappoint Justin Pearson, who is from Memphis, to the seat.
Lowery said he understands the need to respond to those who “break the rules” of the state House of Representatives.
“However, I believe the expulsion of State Representative Justin Pearson was done in haste without considering other means of corrective action. I also believe that the consequences for our great State are yet to be seen,” he said.
Both former lawmakers told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that they want to return to their positions as lawmakers. A special election for the seat, which has yet to be determined, will be held in the coming months.
Expulsions have made Tennessee a new front in the fight for the future of American democracy. The former lawmaker quickly attracted famous supporters. President Joe Biden spoke with him and Vice President Kamala Harris visited him in Nashville.
“You know, we’re going to continue to fight for our constituents,” Jones said. “And one thing I will say … is that this attack hurts everyone in our country. You know, while it disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities, it hurts poor white people. This attack on democracy hurts us all.
In a separate vote Thursday, the GOP majority expelled Jones and Pearson, a move that left about 140,000 voters in predominantly black districts in Nashville and Memphis without representation in the House.
Pearson and Jones were expelled in retaliation for their role in the protests the previous week, which unfolded after the school shooting in Nashville that killed six people, including three young students and three adults working at the school. The shooter was killed by the police.
A third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, was not ousted by a one-vote margin. Johnson is white, spurring the outcry in different results for two young, Black lawmakers. Divided Republican lawmakers have cited Johnson’s points on the floor that his role in the protests was minimal — for example, that he didn’t speak with a megaphone.
Johnson also suggested race may have been a factor in why Jones and Pearson were fired but not him, telling reporters that “it might have something to do with the color of our skin.”
Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton said it was a “false narrative.”
“It’s unfortunate that they’re trying to inject racism into politics, which has nothing to do with it,” Sexton told Fox News on Friday.
GOP leaders said the eviction action — the only one since the Civil War — was necessary to avoid a precedent that lawmakers disrupting House proceedings through protests would be tolerated.
Pearson said the statehouse is a “toxic work environment.” He noted the scrutiny he received for wearing a black dashiki – a tunic-like garment originating in west Africa – for the session, instead of a suit and tie.
“It’s about us not belonging to the institution because they are afraid of the changes that are happening in our society, and the voices that are elevated,” Pearson said in Meet the Press.