Officials in Nashville are set to vote Monday to reinstate one of two black Democratic lawmakers ousted by fellow Republicans for his gun control protest in the Tennessee House of Representatives after a deadly school shooting, essentially sending him off I’m back after a long weekend.
The Nashville metropolitan council called the meeting to address the vacancy left by the expulsion Thursday of former Rep. Justin Jones. Many council members have publicly commented that they want to send Jones back to the state chamber. The vote will take place when state legislators hold their first full session since last week’s vote to expel.
Meanwhile, ousted Rep. Justin Pearson, of Memphis, could be re-elected at a Wednesday meeting of the Shelby County Commission.
Special elections for the seats, which have not yet been set, will take place in the coming months. Jones and Pearson have said they want to be re-elected and plan to run in a special election.
Both former lawmakers told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that they want to return to their posts as lawmakers. Special elections for the seats, which have not yet been set, would be in the coming months.
The evictions have made Tennessee a new front in the battle for the future of American democracy. The former lawmakers have quickly attracted prominent supporters. President Joe Biden spoke with them, and Vice President Kamala Harris visited them in Nashville.
“We will continue to fight for our constituents,” Jones said. “This attack on us is hurting every person in our state. Even though it is disproportionately affecting Black and Latino communities, it is hurting poor whites. His attack on democracy hurts us all.”
In separate votes Thursday, the overwhelming majority of Republicans ousted Jones and Pearson, a move that left some 140,000 voters in mainly black districts in Nashville and Memphis without representation in the House.
Pearson and Jones were expelled for their role in the protest the week before, which unfolded after a school shooting in Nashville that left people dead, including three children.
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