YES – we love to see it! Two days after ousted Tennessee lawmaker Justin Jones (D) was reinstated to his seat, fellow expelled Representative Justin Pearson (D) has also been reappointed to his seat by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners!
If you haven’t been following the stories of Justin Pearson and Justin Jones — who are first-time lawmakers — they were both voted out of the Republican-run Tennessee House after protesting against guns on Thursday (March 30).
The protest came in the wake of the recent Nashville shooting at a Christian grade school — which left six dead: three children, two adults and the school’s headmaster.
Pearson and Jones, alongside Gloria Johnson (D, serving since 2019), took to the House floor to condemn gun violence and try to get an assault weapons ban passed.
Instead, exactly one week later, all three lawmakers were put on a ballot to be kicked out of the House. However, only Pearson, 29, and Jones, 27, would be ousted, as Johnson, 60, survived the expulsion.
Prior to Jones and Pearson being expelled, State House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) said that all three of the Democrats in question were all pulled from their committee assignments as of Monday (April 3).
After the incident, all three speakers addressed the incident, and so did White House. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — who said, “The fact that this vote is happening is shocking, undemocratic and without precedent. Across Tennessee and across America our kids are paying the price for the actions of Republican lawmakers who continue to refuse to take action on stronger gun laws.”
Jean-Pierre added that President Joe Biden plans to continue to call upon Congress to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and to also mandate safe gun storage and strengthen background checks.
Expelled Tennessee Lawmaker Justin Pearson Reinstated By Shelby County Board Of Commissioners After Protesting Against Gun Violence
After much backlash, on Monday (April 10), Justin Jones was reinstated and sworn back into his House District 52 seat as an interim representative. He took the oath on the steps of the state capitol in Nashville, this after the Nashville Metropolitan Council unanimously voted to reinstate him.
Two days later, as of Wednesday (April 12), Justin Pearson has become the second expelled lawmaker in the state of Tennessee to be reinstated.
After an unanimous vote from seven members of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, Pearson got his seat back. Similar to Jones, Pearson will serve as an interim representative.
It is further reported that special elections are set to occur in the next coming months, and both Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are planning to run.
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!