On Thursday, the Tennessee House voted to remove Reps. Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson, and Justin Pearson in connection to a March 30 protest that led to protestors storming the state Capitol. The House successfully expelled Jones and Pearson.
The Tennessee House successfully voted 69-26 in favor of expelling Pearson. Earlier in the evening, the House 65-30 in favor of expelling Johnson, though the motion was one vote short of passing. The vote came after the House voted 72-25 in favor of expelling fellow Rep. Justin Jones.
In the Tennessee House, a two-thirds majority is required to expel a member. The Tennessee House has 99 members, meaning a two-thirds majority would be 66 votes.
According to Reuters, Republicans said the three Democrat lawmakers were engaged in "disorderly behavior" and said they "did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions."
The three led protestors to the Hosue floor to demand stricter gun laws, using bull horns to address the House floor.
Speaking after the vote, Johnson said, "I really want to thank you for standing with me because I know you care about children. And I hear a lot of talk about caring about children."
"I continue to hear no one having conversations about things that will prevent gun violence from coming to our doors. There are so many things we could do that would change the trajectory of where we’re headed.
"More school shootings, more church shootings, more Waffle House shootings, all of these theater shootings. It’s happening everywhere folks. There’s one common denominator. It’s the guns. It’s the people that have the guns because we are not doing anything to make sure the people who are not safe don’t have guns," she added.
Addressing the House before the vote, Jones said, "We called for you all to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on democracy," according to the Associated Press.
"I’ll be out there with the people every week, demanding that you act," he said.
Speaking before the vote, Pearson said, "this House has not been a place of debate for Democrats. This House has not been a place of debate for people who are transgender. This House has not been a place of debate for people who are LGBTQIA. This house has not been a place of debate for people who are already persecuted in our society. This House ain’t even been a place for people who wear beautiful dashikis in honor of their ancestors.
Pearson also suggested that Jesus was "lynched" for supporting the LGBTQ community.
Expelled lawmakers are eligible for appointment back to their seats, and are eligible to run in the special election that will be scheduled. Under the Tennessee Constitution, lawmakers cannot be expelled for the same offense twice.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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