Protesters filled the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville on Thursday as lawmakers debated expelling a trio of Democratic members who joined a separate protest inside the building last week that disrupted proceedings.
The protesters gathered both inside and outside the capitol building on Thursday, holding signs and chanting. Some of the protesters were seen standing in the gallery above the floor of the state House, where they could watch as Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville, Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, and Justin Pearson of Memphis faced an expulsion proceeding.
Jones, Johnson, and Pearson all joined a disruptive protest inside the state capitol on March 30 as activists entered the building and shouted slogans calling for tighter regulations on guns after a suspect, whom police identified as transgender, entered a private Christian school and killed six people, including three children, on March 27. The trio of Democratic lawmakers stood on the House floor and used a bullhorn to shout over their fellow lawmakers, joining chants with protesters.
In response to last week’s disruption, Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton stripped Jones and Johnson of their committee assignments. On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers also introduced a resolution to expel the three Democrat lawmakers, arguing that they participated in “disorderly behavior” and “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”
Supporters of the three Democrats who gathered in the House gallery expressed their anger after the expulsion resolution was introduced on Wednesday. Sexton responded with an order for state troopers to remove the protesters from the gallery.
Gun control activists and supporters of the three Democrats continued to fill the capitol on Thursday as the expulsion proceeding moved forward. At one point during the proceedings, Pearson stood up and raised his fists in the air in acknowledgment of his supporters in the House gallery.
Republican lawmakers have favored adding security funding and arming school teachers and staff in response to the recent Christian school shooting. Democrats, in contrast, have favored adding new restrictions on guns.
On Monday, Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposed a revised state budget that includes additional spending for school security. The budget includes $30 million to place at least one Homeland Security agent in every county to serve both public and private schools, and increase the requirements and accountability for physical security at all Tennessee schools.
Before the expulsion vote on Thursday, House members debated more than 20 bills, including another school safety proposal requiring public and private schools to submit their building safety plans to the state. The school safety bill did not include gun restrictions, sparking criticism from some Democratic lawmakers.
White House Weighs In
During a Thursday press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced the Republican-led expulsion vote in Tennessee. Referring to last week’s disruptive incident, Jean-Pierre said Jones, Johnson, and Pearson “stood in solidarity with children and families peacefully protesting for action on gun safety.”
“The fact that this vote is happening is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” Jean-Pierre added.
As the debate over the expulsions began on Thursday, Jones said, “We called for you all to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on democracy.”
In a Wednesday interview with Fox News, Sexton said the expulsion vote had nothing to do with a policy disagreement or the citizens who protested in and around the building last week, but rather about the specific actions of the three Democratic lawmakers.
“[Jones is] trying to make this about the protesters. He’s trying to make this about what people were protesting about. Their voices were not silenced. This has nothing to do with anything that happened outside the House chamber,” Sexton said. “These three individuals stormed up to the well where you speak from without being recognized, did not display decorum, they disrupted the proceedings where we had to shut down, pulled out a megaphone and started to lead the balcony in protest for the next 30 to 45 minutes. Their actions on the House floor rise to the level of expulsion.”
Even after being expelled from the House, however, the three Democratic lawmakers may still have a way back into the legislature.
After lawmakers are expelled, county commissions in their districts get to pick replacements to serve until a special election can be scheduled. Any expelled lawmakers would be eligible for an appointment back to their seats. They would also be eligible to run in the special election and, under the Tennessee Constitution, lawmakers cannot be expelled for the same offense twice.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
