April 7 (UPI) — Local officials will likely appoint interim lawmakers to replace two young Democrats who were expelled from the Tennessee Legislature in retaliation for staging a demonstration demanding gun control inside the state Capitol last week.
The temporary replacements for ousted Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson will be selected by the county legislative authority, according to state election officials.
A special election could be scheduled before the end of the year. Jones and Pearson will likely be eligible to run again and possibly serve the remainder of their terms, officials said.
“I have no regrets. I will continue to stand up for my constituents,” Jones said Thursday before telling his supporters to come back to the Capitol on Monday to protest when the House is back in session.
Meanwhile, the Shelby County Commission and Nashville’s Metro Council were expected to choose replacements for Jones and Person.
Jones could even be reappointed to his seat more immediately if the Democratic-controlled council sends him back to the state house as his own replacement.
The Republican-dominated Legislature voted Thursday to oust both lawmakers, who are Black. The move to also expel their White colleague, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, failed by one vote. Young people crowded the Statehouse in protest.
All three legislators stormed the House podium last week in a call for stronger gun control measures after a school shooting in Nashville killed six people on March 27.
“I am a 60-year-old White woman, and they are two young Black men,” Johnson said in describing the racial undertones of the political dust-up.
After the protest, Republicans accused the trio of breaking the rules of decorum in an attempt to incite an insurrection.
But breaking House rules by interrupting the proceedings is not illegal, according to a 1981 state ruling on barring lawmakers with felony convictions.
Legal experts were looking into whether the representatives could be seated again or expelled twice for the same offense if they are re-elected in the coming months.
While legislators have been removed from office before in Tennessee, those removals involved connection with crimes. Jones and Pearson were not charged with any crimes, making their removal votes unprecedented.
During a live-streamed video Friday, the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators denounced the expulsions.
State Rep. Sam McKenzie, chair of the caucus, said he was glad Rep. Gloria Johnson survived the attempt to expel her. But he said the GOP action expelling Jones and Pearson was a horrific indictment on the Tennessee GOP and they should be ashamed of themselves.
“The world saw the optics. I don’t have to say a word about the fact that our two young African-American brothers were unfairly prosecuted. Evidence introduced inappropriately. But they handled themselves like true champions,” McKenzie said.
He said he has every confidence that Jones and Pearson will be returned to the state legislature by their counties and metropolitan areas.
State Senator Raumesh Akbari, Tennessee’s Senate Minority leader, said the expulsions of Jones and Pearson was the greatest miscarriage of justice on the Tennessee House floor since African-American members were first seated after Reconstruction.
“Two extremely intelligent, eloquent, community-centered Black men were removed from the House of Representatives,” Akbari said. “That’s not something that should be taken lightly. For five seconds of disruption before the Speaker called for recess, these members were expelled.”
State Rep. Jesse Chism said many in the Black caucus were tearing up over what they saw as the unjust expulsion while some Republicans were smirking and smiling about it.
“It looked like a Jim Crow trial, where we saw two Black men fighting for their careers, fighting for their reputations, fighting for their political lives,” Chism said. “The scene was so disheartening.”
In a scathing statement, President Joe Biden blasted the dismissals as “shocking, undemocratic and without precedent,” while accusing Republicans of silencing those they disagree with.
Former President Barack Obama tweeted Thursday, “This nation was built on peaceful protest. No elected official should lose their job simply for raising their voice – especially when they’re doing it on behalf of our children.”
The governor must declare a special election up to 60 days after the legislative seats are vacated, and from there a ballot of district voters will be scheduled to occur a little more than a month later. The winners would have about a year remaining in the terms to serve.