Partisan politics is moving a bad direction….
Tennessee’s Republican supermajority is poised to take the unprecedented move of expelling three Democrats as punishment for violating House decorum rules by using a bullhorn on the House floor to lead a protest calling for gun reform.
House members are expected to vote Thursday to remove Reps. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, from elected office after the trio brought the chamber to a halt for nearly an hour last week by speaking out of order following the deadly shooting at The Covenant School – a move House Speaker Cameron Sexton later likened to “an insurrection.”
“What they did was try to hold up the people’s business on the House floor instead of doing it the way that they should have done it, which they have the means to do,” Sexton said. “They actually thought that they would be arrested. And so they decided that them being a victim was more important than focusing on the six victims from Monday. And that’s appalling.”
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The expulsion vote — along with the deadly Covenant shooting and subsequent demonstrations — has thrust Tennessee and its politics onto the national stage, drawing attention from Republicans and some of the highest-ranking Democrats in the country.
It has also given Tennessee Democrats a fundraising opportunity while illustrating the power the Republican supermajority has over legislative business and even representation in Democratic districts. Experts say the expulsion vote will set a precedent for the Tennessee General Assembly going forward.
“They’re trying to make us an example. This is a political lynching. But we will not back down,” Jones told reporters Monday, echoing words of expelled former Sen. Katrina Robinson, who at the time of her 2022 ouster called the GOP majority’s move “procedural lynching.” ….
image…George Walker IV/Tennessean
Update on Tennessee expelling’s….
The Republican-controlled Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday voted to expel a Democratic state lawmaker after he participated in a protest against gun violence.
The lawmakers voted 72-25 to expel Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones (Nashville) and are set to consider also ousting Democratic Reps. Gloria Johnson (Knoxville) and Justin Pearson (Memphis) for their participation in the recent demonstrations….
More…
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Molly Ploofkins™
@Mollyploofkins
White woman remains in Tennessee legislature, while black man is expelled for protesting gun violence. Vote is underway for the racist TN GOP to expel another black man.
Update…..
The second BLACK Democratic state lawmaker has been expelled in Tennessee
On the white Tennessee lawmaker STILL employed?
….“An effort to expel a third Democrat, Representative Gloria Johnson, who had stood by the two men in the front of the chamber and joined in the chants during the protest, fell short by one vote.”…
NY Times..
Michael Steele
@MichaelSteele
So here we are. The GOP-controlled legislature has expelled the two Black Democratic legislators
@brotherjones_
and
@Justinjpearson
but did not remove the white female legislator
@VoteGloriaJ
. So tell me how to process that because I know what it feels like. #TennesseeThree
The media beat down has just begun for the Tennessee House….
It’s gonna get worst….
Tennessee House expels two Democrats in historic act of partisan retaliation
The lawmakers, who are both Black, halted proceedings last week to join protesters demanding gun-control legislation after a mass shooting at a Nashville school. A third lawmaker, who is White, was allowed to keep her seat…..
Democrat lawmaker suggests she avoided expulsion from Tennessee legislature because she is White
Tennessee Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson survived an expulsion vote. Her colleagues Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson did not.
Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over guns protest
In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.
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. Republican leadership denied that race was a factor, however.
The visitors’ gallery exploded in screams and boos following the final vote. After sitting quietly for hours and hushing anyone who cried out during the proceedings, people broke into chants of “Shame!” and “Fascists!”