Two of the ousted “Tennessee Three” state House Democrats won their seats back via a special election on Thursday after being expelled in April over what Republican leadership called an “insurrection” at the state Capitol over gun control.
The GOP-held state House voted to remove Nashville Rep. Justin Jones and Memphis Rep. Justin Pearson for “disorderly conduct,” and opted not to oust Knoxville Rep. Gloria Johnson after the three lawmakers led a protest in the chamber following the school shooting of three children and three adults at private Christian institution The Covenant School.
Jones and Pearson were temporarily appointed to their seats the following week, and both won back their seats with 78% and 94% of the vote, respectively, according to their respective counties’ elections offices.
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“Well, Mr. Speaker, the People have spoken,” Jones wrote in a tweet following his win. “The FIND OUT era of politics is just beginning. See you August 21st for special session.”
“Sunday always comes!” Pearson wrote Thursday evening. “[Tennessee GOP] You can’t expel a Movement! You can’t expel Hope! Resurrection is a promised prophecy to a persecuted people! Thank you District 86 and our Movement for your votes, love, prayer, and support! We did it!!!!!”
Gun control protestors flooded the halls of the state Capitol on March 30 after 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who identified as transgender using “he/him” pronouns, shot through the school in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27.
Hale had been undergoing medical treatment for an undisclosed “emotional disorder” ahead of the shooting, and was a former student of the Christian school.
Pearson, Jones and Johnson joined gun control protestors in the state Capitol the week prior to the calls for expulsion, where they chanted via a bullhorn in the chamber between bills. The House resolutions to remove the lawmakers claimed the three “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”
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Jones argued the state House resolutions to remove him and his fellow Democrats were efforts to oust two young black men and one of the legislature’s few female members, whose expulsion efforts failed after not receiving two-thirds majority vote.
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