Tennessee Three: Nashville city council votes unanimously to reinstate expelled state lawmaker
Barnini Chakraborty
Video Embed
Democratic Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones was reappointed Monday afternoon to the state House after being booted from the legislature last week by Republicans for his role in protests following a mass school shooting.
The Nashville Metro Council members voted unanimously, 36-0, for the freshman lawmaker to return to his former seat. The vote came five days after Jones and state Rep. Justin Pearson, also a Democrat, were stripped of their duties by a Republican supermajority that claimed the two men tried to incite violence by bringing bullhorns to the House floor during a gun control protest. State Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white Democrat who also participated in the demonstration, survived her expulsion vote.
TENNESSEE HOUSE SPEAKER WILL SEAT OUSTED BLACK LAWMAKERS IF VOTED BACK IN, OFFICE SAYS
The Shelby County Commission is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to reappoint Pearson to his seat.
Minutes before Monday’s vote, Jones purportedly jumped onto a bench and started to address his supporters. He called Republican Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton an “extremist” and promised that a new generation would deliver gun reform.
Following the vote, Jones and a group of about 1,000 protesters marched to the state Capitol, chanting: “Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!”
Both Jones and Pearson, if he is reappointed, will have to run for reelection in a special election for their seats.
Jones and Pearson went from local lawmakers to political martyrs, with praise pouring in from the White House and donations coming in for their reelection campaigns from across the country.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Sexton has denied that the vote to oust Jones and Pearson had anything to do with race.
Over the weekend, Pearson called the statehouse a “toxic work environment” and said he got harassed for wearing a black dashiki during a House session and not a suit and tie. A dashiki is a tunic-like garment from West Africa.