Republican-controlled Congress Tennessee On Thursday, it took the unusual step of ousting two Democrats from the state legislature. protest against gun control at the Chamber of Commerce last week deadly Nashville school shooting.
After hours of debate, after leading megaphone-driven chants from the House floor podium on March 30, lawmakers voted 72 to 25 to oust Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, Justin of Memphis. Voted 69-26 to oust Senator Pearson. children and their parents filled the audience gallery to call for gun control.
A vote to oust Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, the third member of the state legislature, failed by one vote. She had argued that the resolutions Republicans wrote to deport her did not accurately describe her actions. Although she stood with Pearson and Jones in support of their protest, she never interrupted the proceedings by yelling into the loudspeaker and aloud.
A two-thirds majority was required to remove an MP. Republicans now occupy her 75 of her 99 seats in the State Capitol.
Pearson and Jones are both 27-year-old black men serving their first term in the State Capitol, while Johnson, 60, is a white woman serving her fourth term. “It may have something to do with our skin color,” Johnson said. said outside the room After voting.
call January 6 Attack on the US CapitolHouse Speaker Cameron Sexton, the Republican who leads the Republican majority in the House, The action of the trio “It’s at least equivalent to rioting in the Capitol, or worse depending on how you look at it.”
The demonstration temporarily halted work on the Capitol, but the protesters did not break into the building, damage property, or be arrested. Unlike, they were allowed in after going through a security screening. Tennessee newspaper reported.
Republicans alleged that the three men approached the podium unnominated and violated the parliamentary rules.
Expelled lawmakers can get their seats again and, if re-elected, will not be expelled for the same offense.
Protesters regrouped as lawmakers voted to ban them on Thursday inside and outside of the Capitol supporting the so-called Tennessee Three. Outside the chamber, chants could be heard for hours as lawmakers rallied, but Democrats had asked supporters in public galleries to keep quiet so they could witness the event. , people in the gallery erupted in chants of “Shame on you!” as Pearson’s final vote took place.
Prior to the vote, each eligible Democrat was given an opportunity to address the floor. In his speech, Mr. Jones told his colleagues that he had acted extraordinary to break the rules of etiquette to stand up for voters. He denounced the vote against him as “a lynching mob who came together not to lynch me, but for our democratic process.”
“The world is watching Tennessee because what’s happening here today is a farce of democracy,” Jones said.
In his speech, Mr. Pearson said, “The justice movement never dies because the heart for justice lives and beats one of us.”
