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April 07, 2023 10:00 AM UTC

At Least You Don't Live In Tennessee

  • 17 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson, former Reps. Justin Pearson, Justin Jones.

NBC News reports on the shocking expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers by the GOP supermajority Tennessee House of Representatives yesterday, while the vote to expel a third white woman representative narrowly failed:

Republican legislators in Tennessee voted Thursday to expel two Black Democrats from the state House over their protests on the chamber floor against gun violence last week, while a vote to expel a third, white Democratic representative fell short.

In the first vote, Republicans expelled Rep. Justin Jones. The second vote, to kick out Rep. Gloria Johnson, failed. Republicans then voted to remove Rep. Justin Pearson…

The resolutions accused each of the Democratic legislators of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and purposely bringing “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” during protests against gun violence on the House floor last week.

A mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school on March 27th resulted in a student walkout and protest at the Tennesee State Capitol similar to what we’ve seen in Colorado with East High School’s series of protest marches, during which three Democratic representatives cheered on the student protesters in the House gallery and even led a chant from the House floor at the height of the student protest. At most this might be considered a minor breach of decorum, punishable by a lecture. As Colorado knows from the most recent example of expelled state Rep. Steve Lebsock in 2018 over sexual harassment allegations, overriding the will of voters and removing a member is a penalty that’s supposed to be reserved for serious cases of misconduct.

As of yesterday in Tennessee, it’s a means of silencing political opposition. The optics of this are made immeasurably worse by the sparing of the white woman representative targeted for expulsion by a single vote, which removed the only pretense Republicans could cling to besides down-home Tennessee racism. In Colorado, where Democrats enjoy the same supermajority power, this would be like expelling Rep. Scott “There Is No” Bottoms over his deplorable rhetoric during dozens of obstructionist filibusters this session. We know it’s tempting, but that’s not what expulsion is for either.

Politically, this arrogant abuse of power by Tennessee Republicans seems very likely to backfire, greatly increasing the profile of these two expelled lawmakers who now have the option of winning back their seats in a special election–or moving on to something bigger and better now that they’re nationwide heroes.

Momentary satisfaction will give way to the realization that Tennessee Republicans made a huge mistake.

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17 thoughts on “At Least You Don’t Live In Tennessee”

  1. I read that Tennessee have a similar vacancy committee for replacing a departed member.  Also, there is nothing precluding the two expelled lawmakers for being candidates to fill the vacancies.  I get the impression that in at least one, if not both of these lawmakers might be reappointed as their own replacements.

    It would make it funny.  Like them flipping the bird to the Republicans who ousted them.

    1. Both may also soon return to the House. Under the Tennessee Constitution, vacancies in the state legislature can be filled by the legislative body in the home county of the lawmaker who needs to be replaced, and there's no prohibition on picking a member who was just expelled. And because these two seats have become vacant more than a year from the next general election, special elections must be held as well—and once again, there's nothing stopping an expelled former legislator from running.

    2. Precisely. Not only do they have a vacancy committee process similar to Colorado's but they also will have the schedule a special election to select a permanent replacement. That cost money. And the two expelled members can and should run for their seats.

      Doing symbolic but meaningless gestures to appease the base is not something on which the left alone has a monopoly.

      If the asshole Republicans in the TN legislature had given this some thought, they would have come up with a pretext to expel members from swing districts – assuming, of course, that there are any.

  2. I hope these three become even bigger superstars for standing up for what is right. God bless them – they are a reason to be proud of Tennessee!

      1. Setting aside the completely shameful behavior of the Tennessee State Legislature, hiking in the Smoky Mountains is pretty spectacular. 

  3. Julie McCluskie take note. The next time one of the 19 GOP assholes in the CO House starts brandishing his or her AR-15 in violation of any firearms laws, the 46 Dems need to introduce an expulsion resolution.

    Because criminal conduct is worse than violating the decorum of the chamber.

  4. Clearly, Tennessee has a deep-seated, reprehensible prejudice against . . . people named Justin. 

    Slightly more seriously, there may not be anyone with less power than a state legislator in the (super)minority. All they could do was make floor speeches no one listened to. Now, they have a national profile and platform. Given the background here, the Republicans "shot themselves in the foot" may be tone-deaf, but I am going with it anyway.

  5. How long before a prominent Republican says a racist thing about this?

    If we can get through the weekend without someone making this worse, I'll be surprised.

  7. On Bothsiderism from Kate Riga at TPM

    Incidentally, this week is TPM’s membership drive. The other important, independent news site worthy of direct support is the Colorado SUn.

    And yet, some mainstream outlets still struggled to resist both sides-ing the reality.  

    Take this Associated Press headline: “Amid polarization, minority party lawmakers face penalties.”

    It’s hard to imagine a worse summation of current political dynamics. Based on the headline, you’d think it’d be a litany of Tennessee-esque vindictive actions taken by both parties. But look at the opening. 

    “Oklahoma Republicans removed the state’s only nonbinary legislator from House committees after the lawmaker provided refuge to a transgender rights activist,” it reads. “In Florida, two Democratic leaders were arrested for participating in a protest over abortion restrictions. And in Tennessee, three Democratic House members are facing expulsion for using a bullhorn in the House chamber to show support for demonstrators demanding gun control.”

    Notice a pattern? In each example, Democrats are being punished for protesting, for publicly taking positions that Republicans oppose. And in the two examples where the punishments are political in nature, it’s Republicans who are doling them out. 

    These are not examples of “polarization.” They’re examples of a Republican party on an authoritarian, rightward-march, growing increasingly comfortable taking an iron fist to democratically elected lawmakers who express opinions they oppose. 

    1. Take this New York Times piece. The headline is informative: “Tennessee G.O.P. Punishes 2 Democrats by Throwing Them Out of House.” 

      But then you reach the sub-heading: “The unseating of the lawmakers threatened to further inflame partisan rancor in a state that is divided over issues like how to respond to a school shooting in Nashville.”

      “Partisan rancor” is the evil being “threatened,” and not the reaction of a healthy democracy to years of chipping away at it.

      Then you have the more minor, but frustrating, sins of omission. 

      This NPR headline — “Tennessee House votes to expel 2 of 3 Democratic members over gun protest” — and this Washington Post Twitter description of its article — “Over 100 state and federal Black lawmakers assembled in an emergency Zoom meeting Thursday evening to offer support to Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who were unseated from the Tennessee House” — omit critical information. Republicans in the Tennessee House voted to expel them. They were unseated by Republicans. 

      It all stems, consciously or not, from the idea that to pin the action on one party, rather than to avoid assigning accountability through the passive voice or by citing the chamber without clarifying its partisan lean, would reveal some kind of bias on the part of the reporter. 

      As soon as you step into the land of right-wing outlets, things get, predictably, worse. 

       

  8. Y'all this act of the Tennessee legislators was strictly racist.  There is no way to bounce around that as the first fact.  The second is they are from the two "liberal" cities of the state.  One of the cities, I can't remember which one, is being attacked by the legislature to reduce and remake the city council.  It would be like if the Colorado assmebly was reversed and the legislators decided to take over Denver and change how it is run. 

    So that means one of the two men tossed from the legislature for being too uppity and speaking when the white men did not want them to is also in a district that is being changed and the case in in court.

    This was a racist attack and a way to change the voters for at least one of them to continue the gqp gerrymandering of the state.

    Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi form the solid remains of the old south, slavery is them. Why would MS with a major Black population nothave a majority Black legislature?  Because it is gerrymandered to hell and back.

    All that aside, it is important to know and understand, it was not some simple "decorum" thing.  It was blatant racisim in the South.

    Also, one of the good legislators of Tennessee wants to bring back lynching.

  9. Just as pardoning Nixon by Gerald Ford enabled Roger Ailes/FOX, Trump, right wing am radio, and on and on even more critical the allowance of Jim Crow post US reconstruction failure makes the dirt bag Jebus with a AR15 never served in combat POS current GOP to try again. Nutting these people is the only way to stop US fascism once and for all.  

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