Tennessee House expels one lawmaker, spares another while 3rd awaits vote

Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville gestures during a vote on his expulsion from the state legislature at the State Capitol Building on April 6, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was expelled after he and two other Democratic reps led a protest at the Tennessee State Capital building in the wake of a mass shooting where three students and three adults were killed on March 27 at the Covenant School in Nashville. (Photo by Seth Herald/Getty Images)

OAN Geraldyn Berry
UPDATED 6:04 PM – Thursday, April 6, 2023

A week after three Democrats organized a gun control demonstration on the House floor, a vote took place to remove the representatives from Tennessee’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Rep. Justin Jones (D-Tenn.) was previously booted from the House for participating in a demonstration after the school massacre in Nashville.

Justin Pearson, the third Democrat figure involved, could potentially be removed from office on Thursday.

Johnson received a 65-30 majority in the vote on rules infractions. A two-thirds majority is required for expulsion from the House. Jones received a 72–25 split vote from both parties.

As lawmakers prepared to consider three resolutions submitted by GOP lawmakers seeking to expel Jones of Nashville, Johnson of Knoxville, and Pearson of Memphis, a move the Tennessee House has only made twice since the 1860s, protesters descended upon the state Capitol on Thursday.

Prior to the Democrat’s expulsion, he gave a speech addressing his colleagues.

“There comes a time where people get sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Jones said in a speech prior to a vote on his expulsion. “And so, my colleagues, I say that what we did was act in our responsibility as legislators to serve and give voice to the grievances of people who have been silenced. We called for you all to ban assault weapons and you respond with an assault on democracy.”

After two hours of discussion, Jones cast his vote after responding to inquiries about his participation in the demonstration last Thursday. After roughly an hour and a half of deliberation, Johnson cast his vote.

House Democrat Caucus Press Secretary Cameron Sexton had stripped the trio of all their committee and subcommittee assignments and called their actions “disorderly behavior.”

In effect, those actions took away the voices of the protestors, the focus on the six victims who lost their lives, and the families who lost their loved ones.
— Speaker Cameron Sexton (@CSexton25) April 3, 2023

Last week, the trio of Democratic lawmakers chanted back and forth from the chamber floor with gun-control supporters packed in the gallery. Jones had disrupted House proceeding with a blowhorn. This was in regards to them protesting whilst calling for gun control following the shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville that killed six people, including three children.

This a developing story.

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