© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Rep. Justin J. Pearson speaks to the media after Rep. Justin Jones was reinstated days after the Tennessee House’s Republican majority voted to expel both of them for their involvement in a control showdown of weapons.
By Omar Younis and Jonathan Allen
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Reuters) – Local government officials in Memphis, Tennessee, voted on Wednesday to reinstate the second of two Democratic state lawmakers who were ousted last week for protesting gun violence in the chamber.
In a rare rebuke last week, the Republicans who control the state House of Representatives voted to expel Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two black men in their late 20s who had recently joined the legislature, for their peaceful protest that broke the rules on the floor on March 30.
Jones has already been sworn in after aldermen in Nashville, where his district is located, voted unanimously Monday to restore him on an interim basis until a special election can be held for the remainder of the two-year term.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, where Democrats hold a large majority, voted to do the same to Pearson at a special meeting in Memphis, where Pearson’s district is located. Seven of the 13 board members were present at the meeting, and all seven voted in favor of Pearson’s return.
“You can’t expel hope,” Pearson said in the post-vote meeting. “You cannot expel justice. You can’t drive out our voice.” He is expected to return to the state capitol in Nashville on Thursday to be sworn in.
‘UNFORTUNATE’
Announcing the meeting, Mickell Lowery, chairman of the board and a Democrat, called the expulsions “unfortunate.”
“I believe the removal of State Representative Justin Pearson was carried out in a hasty manner without considering other methods of corrective action,” Lowery said in a statement.
Jones and Pearson helped lead the March 30 rally on the House floor, disrupting a legislative session, along with Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, another Democrat. They were supported by angry Nashville residents outraged by a mass shooting at a city school earlier in the week in which a former student killed three 9-year-olds and three staff members.
Johnson narrowly escaped being expelled as well for violating House rules of decorum. She told reporters after the vote that she believed she survived because she is white, and all three called the expulsions undemocratic.
The ousters drew national attention to Jones and Pearson, including a visit last week by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to show her support, and buoyed many voters in the Democratic-leaning cities they represent in a largely Republican state.
Democrats in the US Senate have called on the US Justice Department to investigate whether the ousted lawmakers’ constitutional rights were violated.
The Tennessee Democratic Party has already received more than $400,000 in political contributions since last week, more than the party received during the previous three months combined, according to state Chairman Hendrell Remus.
Before marching with supporters to the commissioners meeting, Pearson, along with Jones and Johnson, addressed a crowd of about 500 outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
“This is a democracy they are afraid of,” Pearson said of the cheering crowd, “because this is a democracy that changes the status quo.”
Jones said he and Pearson would address the House of Representatives in Nashville on Thursday and call for the resignation of House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, calling him an “enemy of multiracial democracy.”
“Instead of passing common sense gun laws, they passed a resolution to expel the two youngest black members of the General Assembly,” Jones said.
Sexton did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, House Republicans, who hold a large majority, issued a statement saying they will “welcome” any ousted state legislators back for county-level governments, as long as those members follow the rules. of the legislature.