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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." Before that, state lawmakers last ousted a House member in 2016 when the chamber voted 70-2 to remove Republican Rep. Jeremy Durham over allegations of improper sexual contact with at least 22 women during his four years in office. 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. The bill’s supporters have disputed that contention, arguing that the measure would protect students, not only because trained adults would have access to guns but also because their presence could act as a deterrent to a would-be assailant.
Tennessee House of Representatives
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. Thousands of people flocked to the Capitol to support Jones, Pearson and Johnson on Thursday, cheering and chanting outside the House chamber loudly enough to drown out the proceedings. Nationwide, candidates for roughly four of every 10 state legislative seats run unopposed in general elections.
Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over guns protest
The state is divided into 99 House districts from each of which one representative is elected. A Florida Republican lawmaker proposed a constitutional amendment this year that would have banned state or local governments from paying reparations, but the measure didn't pass. A Missouri Republican introduced a bill that would ban any state or local government entity from spending on reparations based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or economic class. But many of them believed that restricting access to guns was the solution, and critics of the legislation have argued that bringing more weapons onto school campuses would not improve safety and could even amplify the danger facing students.
Bedford County
With lawmakers looking to wrap up session as soon as possible, Jones could be effectively silenced for the rest of the 2024 session. Shipman-Dorrance, a Davidson County teacher and parent, has worked to advocate for gun reform for the last year. She said she grew frustrated watching lawmakers chat, scroll on their phones and eat their lunch on the House floor while the bill was debated, leading her to yell out from the public gallery. "We’re being blamed for putting guns in schools, but the purpose of it is to protect our children and that is often forgotten," said Rep. Sabi Kumar, R-Springfield. Republicans denied Democratic assertions that introducing more guns into schools will endanger children.
College protests updates: Columbia to expel students occupying building
In Tennessee, a shooter indiscriminately opened fire in March 2023 at The Covenant School — a Christian school in Nashville — and killed three children and three adults before being killed by police. "This vote to silence me just formalized what has been a pattern all sesson, silencing any voice of dissent as they push harmful bills that the majority of Tennesseans do not want," Jones said. Sexton later cleared the galleries, with troopers flooding into the Capitol rotunda to block access from much of the hallway. Early in the debate, Sexton gaveled down vocal protestors and warned he would clear the gallery if necessary. He later directed troopers to remove one woman, Lauren Shipman-Dorrance, from the ticketed gallery. "We worked with the Senate and representative sponsors of this bill to make it even a little bit safer — anything, really — and I'm utterly disappointed that that was not taken into consideration," she said.
In the chaos after the vote, Democratic and Republican lawmakers accused each other of violating House rules but only voted to reprimand Jones for recording on his phone. The vote in favor of the bill sent it to Republican Gov. Bill Lee for consideration. If he signs it into law, it would be the biggest expansion of gun access in the state since last year's deadly shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville. Meanwhile, Republicans voted through three separate rules violations against Jones, including for recording on the House floor. Jones later said it was an inequitable application of the rules wielded by the GOP supermajority against a young Black lawmaker. 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.
Districts
Tennessee passed a 2016 law allowing armed school workers in two rural counties, but it wasn't implemented, according to WPLN-FM. A veto by Lee appears unlikely since it would be a first for him and lawmakers would only need a simple majority of each chamber's members to override it. Members of the public who oppose the bill harangued Republican lawmakers after the vote, leading House Speaker Cameron Sexton to order the galleries cleared. "If they did say that, they would be telling their entire community that the deterrent doesn’t exist there,” Williams said, later saying "gun-free" schools are zones where "people know they can go there and take advantage of folks." Four Republicans ultimately crossed the aisle to join Democrats in voting against the bill, with another three abstaining from the vote.
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General election
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In a statement shared on social media, Tennessee House Republicans said it was a "sad day" for the state — but they defended the vote as "the only path forward" in response to the trio's "disrespectful" actions. After the votes were concluded, she suggested that she had survived the process because she is White and Jones and Pearson are Black. Before the votes, she defended her colleagues Pearson and Jones, saying the legislature has to "welcome this younger generation, who might do it a little bit differently, but they are fighting for their constituency."
Cameron Sexton
Justin Jones, 27, was the first of the "Tennessee Three" to be expelled from the House, by a vote of 72-25. On Monday, April 10, the Nashville Metro Council voted unanimously to reinstate Jones, and two days later the Shelby County Commission voted unanimously to reinstate Pearson. Last year, the state Senate expelled Democrat Katrina Robinson after she was convicted of using about $3,400 in federal grant money on wedding expenses instead of her nursing school. “Our members literally didn’t look at the ethnicity of the members up for expulsion,” Majority Leader William Lamberth added. He alleged Jones and Pearson were trying to incite a riot last week, while Johnson was more subdued.
The proposal presents a starkly different response to The Covenant School shooting than Lee proposed last year. Republican legislators quickly cast aside his push to keep guns away from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. Due to the three votes against Jones, he will not be allowed to speak in House proceedings for two days, House ethics counsel Doug Himes confirmed on Tuesday.
In addition, the Democratic and Republican Caucus chairpersons occupy significant roles in directing meetings of their party members. During the organizational session of the House, a speaker and a speaker pro tempore are elected. The speaker pro tempore acts in the absence of the speaker, but the speaker has the right to name any member to perform the duties of the chair for a period not to exceed one legislative day. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with all representatives standing for election at the same time. This is consistent with the practice in all other states with the exceptions of Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, and Mississippi which allow representatives to serve four-year terms. Ahead of the vote, Ragan maintained his bill was needed, arguing that reparations advocates want to “take money from our grandchildren's pockets as a judgement for someone else's great-great-grandfather's actions."
The move marked a rare defeat on a GOP-backed proposal initially introduced nearly one year ago. It easily cleared the Republican-controlled Senate last April, but lawmakers eventually hit pause as the House became consumed with controversy over expelling two Black Democratic lawmakers for their participating in a pro-gun control protest from the House floor. Before the expulsion votes, House members debated more than 20 bills, including a school safety proposal requiring public and private schools to submit building safety plans to the state.
Four House Republicans and all Democrats opposed the bill, which the state Senate previously passed. The measure would bar disclosing which employees are carrying guns beyond school administrators and police, including to students' parents and even other teachers. A principal, school district and law enforcement agency would have to agree to let staff carry guns.
Republicans declined to take action, pointing out that he was reelected as the allegations surfaced. 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. The split votes drew accusations of racism, with lawmakers ousting Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who are both Black, while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, survived the vote on her expulsion. The unanimous vote by the seven Democrats allows Mr. Pearson to be sworn in to his seat as early as Thursday, ahead of a special election later this year. Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson have vowed to run for their seats later this year in special elections.
“I’ll be out there with the people every week, demanding that you act,” he said. Offered a chance to defend himself before the vote, Jones said the GOP responded to the shooting with a different kind of attack. The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.
