Global Courant 2023-04-11 16:57:20
Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones, who was reinstated to the state house on Monday, is calling on the Republican speaker of the state house to resign.
Jones, one of two black Democratic lawmakers ousted from the GOP-controlled legislature last week for leading a gun control protest in the state capital, called House Speaker Cameron Sexton an “enemy of democracy.”
“He’s an enemy of democracy and he doesn’t deserve to sit in that office of a Speaker of the House any longer,” Jones told CNN.
Sexton did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. The speaker previously said that Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson “deserved eviction” after they interrupted state House proceedings in protest of a failure to act on gun control following the deadly shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville.
NASHVILLE SENDS EDITED BLACK DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER BACK TO TENNESSEE HOUSE
State Representative Justin Jones of Nashville speaks outside the Capitol on April 10, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Democrat was reinstated days after he was evicted for leading a protest on the House floor for gun reform in the wake of a mass shooting at a Christian school that left three 9-year-old students and three adults killed by a 28-year-old former student on March 27. (Seth Herald/Getty Images)
Jones and another black Democrat, Justin Pearson, were removed from the legislature in dramatic votes that Democrats labeled as disenfranchising and voter suppression. President Biden called the move “shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented”. A third lawmaker who participated in the protest, Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson, narrowly avoided eviction by a single vote.
Johnson, who is white, later suggested she was not expelled because of the color of her skin. Members of the Tennessee Black Caucus compared the eviction votes to a “Jim Crow-era trial”.
Evicted DEMOCRAT FROM TENNESSEE Accuses ‘WHITE SUPREMACIST SYSTEM’ OF REMOVING HOUSE SEAT
Rep. Justin Pearson, Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Gloria Johnson People hold their hands up as they exit the doors of the House Chamber at the Tennessee State Capitol Building in Nashville, Tennessee, Monday, April 3, 2023. (Nicole Hester/The Tennessean via AP)
Sexton has denied accusations of racism and insisted that Jones and Pearson be removed to set a precedent that interfering with House proceedings would not be tolerated.
“In my house on the floor, since I’m a speaker, we have rules, we have decorum, we have process, we have procedures,” he told Fox News last week.
BIDEN INVITES TENNESSEE DEMOCRATS TO WHITE HOUSE AFTER LOCKOUT VOTES
Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, from left, Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, expelled Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Knoxville, and Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, are recognized by the public at Fisk University before Vice President Kamala Harris arrives, Friday, April 7 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. ((AP Photo/George Walker IV))
“Imagine that happened on the convention floor during his State of the Union address and people took over for him, pulled out a megaphone and started leading the people in chants, a protest from the convention floor. I don’t think he would approve.”
Jones was returned to the legislature on an interim basis on Monday following a unanimous vote by the Nashville Metropolitan Council. State law allows local legislative bodies to elect interim representation in the state House whenever there is a vacancy. Pearson could be reappointed by the Shelby County Commission as early as Wednesday.
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Special elections will be held in the coming months for the Jones and Pearson seats. Both men have said they intend to run in their respective elections.
Sexton spokesperson Doug Kufner indicated that whoever is appointed to the vacancies by the governments of Nashville and Shelby County “shall sit as representatives as required by the Constitution.”
Bradford Betz of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
