Ex-Tennessee state lawmaker ousted for protesting gun violence calls state Speaker an

Two ousted Tennessee lawmakers who protested on the state’s House floor said the legislature has ‘always been toxic’ and accused the Republican Speaker of treating it like his ‘personal palace.’

Democratic former State Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were voted to be expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives by their colleagues after using a bullhorn to protest gun violence on the floor.

It came following the latest shooting that left six dead at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

‘The Speaker, you know, I mean, he runs the Capitol like it’s his private palace and so there is no democracy in Tennessee. Tennessee is the most undemocratic state in the nation,’ former Rep. Jones told NBC News’ Meet the Press host Chuck Todd.

He also accused Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton of being an ‘autocrat.’

Jones, 27, previously represented Nashville – and the city’s Metropolitan Council is now tasked with selecting who will take his now-vacant seat.

But now, lawmakers in the state are looking to reinstate him after he led chants from anti-gun activists in the public gallery.

Twenty-three members of the 40-seat chamber confirmed last week that they will hold an emergency meeting Monday where they plan to vote him back to the House.

Republican leadership said they would work with Jones if he is returned to the body, just as any other member. But warned that they must observe ‘decorum’.

Pearson told Todd during their joint interview on NBC Sunday morning: ‘It has always been a toxic work environment to work in the Tennessee State Capitol.’

‘When you have people who make comments about hanging you on a tree and hanging black people on a tree as a form of capital punishment. When you wear a dashiki on the House floor and a member gets up and they talk about your dashiki saying it’s unprofessional,’ he listed. ‘They’re really sending signals that you don’t belong here and that is what the underlying and undergirding comment and responses that we heard on the House floor and the comments to myself and my brother, Representative Jones, was really about.’

‘It’s about us not belonging in the institution because they are afraid of the changes that are happening in our society and the voices that are being elevated,’ the former state lawmaker added.

Legislative leaders cannot stop an ousted member from running for office again, and they cannot expel them for the same offense if they are reelected.

Jones earlier said he would be back at the Capitol on Monday to continue his protesting for gun reform – action which was sparked last week after trans shooter Audrey Hale killed three children and three adults at a Christian school in Nashville.

‘I’ll be back at the Capitol on Monday with those protesting,’ Jones said. 

He was the first to be voted out followed by Justin Pearson, also 27, who represented Memphis, while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who represents Knoxville, retained her seat by one vote. 

Johnson commented that she believed it came down to the fact that she is a ’60-year-old white woman and they are two young black men.’

It comes amid online posts from supporters who have threatened calls for arson at the House of Rep. several saying: ‘Burn it down.’

Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon, Jones said that he hadn’t slept since the vote but won’t let it compromise his dissidence.

‘What they’re trying to do is to bring us back to days that we don’t want to go to,’ he said. 

‘If I didn’t know this happened to me I would think this was 1963 instead of 2023.

‘We’ll continue to lift up the issue and we’ll continue to speak truth to power and I’ll be back at the Capitol on Monday with those protesting – demanding action from my former colleagues.’

Tennessee Republicans accused the protestors and the Democratic House members of disruption when they interrupted House proceedings March 30 with a bullhorn.

The resolution to expel the lawmakers said that they brought: ‘disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.’ 

The trio had joined hundreds of protestors who marched to the State Capitol last week calling for stricter gun laws in the wake of the grisly massacre at the Covenant School in Nashville at the hands of twisted gunman Hale, 28.

Johnson, who also spoke to the broadcaster said she believes she was spared because the issue came down to race.

‘I’m a 60-year-old white woman and they are two young black men listening to the questions and the way they were talked to,’ she said.

‘I was talked down to as a woman mansplained to but it was completely different from the questioning that they got.’

Supporters lashed out at the House of Rep. with many threatening online to ‘burn it down.’ 

Among those citing violence following the historic vote was University of North Carolina at Charlotte associate professor Anita Blanchard.

Until Thursday, only two people had been expelled from the Tennessee state legislature since the Civil War. 

U.S. president Joe Biden called the vote ‘shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent’.

He tweeted: ‘Three kids and three officials gunned down in yet another mass shooting. And what are GOP officials focused on? Punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action.

‘It’s shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.’

Jones said after the vote that it showed Tennessee was ‘on a path toward authoritarianism,’ and his lawyers were analyzing whether the expulsion vote was legal. 

‘This should sound the alarm across the nation, that we are entering some very dangerous territory,’ he said.

He said that the three ‘are in this together’, and he was heading to the public gallery to support the other two as he is no longer allowed to enter the House floor.

Jones said: ‘We are multiracial, intergenerational – we represent Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville. We stand united. Because this is not the end.

‘But if we don’t act, we lose our democracy. Today was a signal that we have lost democracy in Tennessee and we are on a path toward authoritarianism, to be quite honest.’

He said he was not sure if he would run for office again, but would ‘stand with the people’, and added: ‘We were saying, let’s pass an assault weapons ban. And they assaulted democracy.’

He said expelling him from the House was ‘unconstitutional’, and said he is consulting his legal advisers for the next steps. 

The House was shown video of the March 30 demonstration, with the three Democrats joined by protestors. 

They used a bullhorn to lead supporters in the public gallery in chants for gun reform, and as a result were accused of ‘disorderly behavior’ in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

The three Democrats raised their fists in the air as video of the disruption played, during the vote to expel them. Cheers and applause were also heard as the video played. 

All three progressive representatives were seen speaking with one another as the short clip ended.

Heavy security was present as the vote was held.

Tennessee Republicans accused the protestors and the Democratic House members of disruption when they interrupted House proceedings March 30.

The resolution to expel the lawmakers says that they brought: ‘disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.’ 

The trio had joined hundreds of protestors who marched to the State Capitol last week calling for stricter gun laws.

Six people, including three nine-year-old children, were killed when Nashville shooter Audrey Hale opened fire at The Covenant School on March 27.

Three adults – Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Michael Hill, 61 – were killed, along with three nine-year-old students: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. 

Hundreds of people invaded the Capitol on March 30, demanding that the Republican-led Statehouse pass gun control measures. 

House leadership later described it as an ‘insurrection,’ aping language used around the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters in January 2021. 

Jones and Johnson were stripped of their committee assignments in the aftermath  by Republican leadership. 

Pearson, however, did not serve on a committee.

Expulsion votes are rare and in Tennessee. 

The House of Representatives has only voted to expel a member twice since the Civil War. 

One vote was to expel a sitting lawmaker who was convicted of soliciting a bribe, and another for a majority whip who was facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Two-thirds of the House needed to vote in favor of the expulsion in order for it to pass. 

On Monday, three Republicans filed resolutions that the three Democrats be expelled and they successfully asked for an expedited process with a vote Thursday. 

The resolutions claim the three ‘did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives,’ according to the Tennesseean newspaper. 

The result was fresh chaos on Monday when the first resolution, targeting Pearson, was introduced.

Protesters shouted from the galleries and Pearson raised his fist in salute, while other Democrats raised their hands to object.

Members of the public chanted: ‘Fascists! Fascists!’ and wagged their fingers and fists at members. 

Instead of taking a vote, the speaker called for state troopers to clear the House galleries. 

Johnson later said she would consider a lawsuit if expelled, saying their protest was constitutionally protected. 

‘We’re going to push back, and we’re going to fight this because it’s unprecedented and utterly ridiculous,’ she told the Tennessean. 

She accused Republicans of double standards. 

‘We had a child molester on the floor for years, they helped him get reelected and did nothing to expel him,’ she added.

‘We’ve had members pee in each other’s chairs and nothing happened. But talk on the floor without permission, and you’ll get expelled.’

House Democrats said they stood behind the three. 

‘The Democratic Caucus has unanimously, formally voted to oppose the baseless resolutions for expulsion and will zealously oppose them should they come up for a vote on the House floor,’ they said in a statement.

The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators also protested the resolutions.

‘This political retribution is unconstitutional and, in this moment, morally bankrupt,’ it said. 

‘The people who elected us are calling for meaningful action to end gun violence and the people have a right to be heard through their duly elected representatives.’

Democrats and Republicans have strongly disagreed about how to respond to the Nashville massacre.  

Biden reiterated his call for a ban on assault weapons. 

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, proposed $155m to place an armed security guard at every public school in Tennessee and to boost security presence at both public and private schools.