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NASHVILLE — The Republican-led Tennessee House voted Thursday to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/04/nashville-shooting-tennessee-democrats-expel/" target="_blank">expel two Democratic lawmaker</a>s who halted proceedings last week to join protesters demanding gun-control legislation after a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/03/27/nashville-school-shooting/" target="_blank">mass killing</a>.

In a historic act of partisan retaliation, the chamber voted 72-25 to oust Rep. Justin Jones (D), a 27-year-old community organizer elected in November to represent part of Nashville, and 69-26 to expel Rep. Justin Pearson (D) of Memphis. Republicans did not have enough votes to remove Rep. Gloria Johnson (D), a former teacher from Knoxville who lost a student to gun violence.

After a shooter opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, killing three 9-year-olds and three adults, activists descended on the Tennessee Capitol and demanded that lawmakers pass gun-control legislation. Republicans, with supermajorities in both chambers, refused to do so. The three lawmakers — dubbed the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/07/tennessee-three-jones-pearson-johnson-expelled/" target=_blank>Tennessee Three</a> — said they joined the protests inside the legislative chamber to speak out for Tennesseans whose voices have been ignored.

The unprecedented effort in response to remove them from office stunned many and marked an escalation in partisan rancor dominating some statehouses. In some cases, Republican-led legislatures have taken steps to marginalize Democrats, particularly over gun control and social issues.

“I recognize that it’s not just about expelling me, but it’s about expelling the people,” Jones said before the vote. “But your action will do the exact opposite. It will galvanize them to see what is happening in the state requires sustained action.”

After the vote that allowed Johnson to remain in the House, reporters asked why she thought she was spared after Jones was ousted. Johnson, who is White, responded: “It might have to do with the color of our skin.” Jones is of Black and Filipino descent, and Pearson is Black.

The three lawmakers did not immediately respond to messages from The Washington Post seeking comment after the votes. Biographical information for Jones and Pearson was immediately removed from the House website, and their seats were listed as “vacant.”

County and city-level officials will select replacements to serve until the next regularly scheduled election in August 2024, said Carrie Russell, a political science senior lecturer at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University. The expelled lawmakers will be able to run for reelection at that time, she said.

Bob Mendes, an at-large member of the Nashville Metropolitan Council, tweeted Thursday night that a meeting has been set for Monday to fill Jones’s seat. “I will vote to name Justin Jones back into the State House to represent my constituents,” Mendes tweeted.

The Tennessee House had only expelled members three times previously, according to a <a href="https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2019/op19-20.pdf" target=_blank>report </a>from the office of the state’s attorney general. In 1866, six members were expelled “for the contempt of the authority of this House.” In 1980, a member was expelled for seeking a bribe in exchange for tanking a piece of legislation. And in 2016, a representative was expelled amid state and federal investigations of sexual misconduct.

Inside the Capitol on Thursday, the expulsion hearing was marked by a slew of tense and emotion-filled moments.

“The world is watching Tennessee,” Jones said. “What is happening here today is a farce of democracy. What’s happening here today is a situation in which the jury has already publicly announced the verdict.”

Though Democrats ardently pleaded for their colleagues to vote against expulsion, most Republicans were left unconvinced. Rep. Gino Bulso (R) deemed Jones’s defense “a compelling, eloquent statement of why he should be expelled.”

The debate over ousting Jones lasted about an hour, until Republicans voted to move on — a decision that was ardently rebuked by House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons.

“Give me a break. Is this a circus?” Clemmons shouted into the microphone. “You are talking about kicking somebody out of this body and you can’t sit through a debate?”

Ultimately, only one Republican, Rep. Charlie Baum, voted against Jones’s expulsion.

While expulsion proceedings were centered on allegations of protocol breach and disruption, each of the three representatives’ debates took on a distinctive tone and framing.

With Johnson, cross-examining mostly focused on how those allegations applied to her case, with lawmakers repeatedly questioning Johnson about her role in the protests. With Jones and Pearson, the representatives used a more aggressive line of questioning, calling the two lawmakers disruption-makers and attention-seekers.

Democrats argued that Jones’s actions were a mistake but that his expulsion would set a dangerous precedent for democracy. Republicans said expulsion was necessary to prevent further potential attempts to disobey the chamber’s rules.

At the start of Thursday’s proceedings, Pearson welcomed his supporters to the Capitol on the House floor.

“Thank you for getting on the bus at 3 a.m. or 2:30 a.m. this morning to be a part of this process,” Pearson said, “and to make sure your voices are heard and your presence is power so that we can continue to elevate the issues in our community and those who we continue to lose.”

At the doors to the entrance of the main gallery, several hundred protesters stood with ponchos and umbrellas on a rainy Nashville day, blowing whistles and chanting “What do we want? Gun control. When do we want it? Now!” and “Do your job! Do your job!”

A young woman in a red bandanna with a pink whistle held a sign that said “I turn 18 today. Hallie, William and Evelyn never will,” in reference to the three 9-year-olds killed in Nashville.

Young children, teenagers and parents stood in a light drizzle and 53-degree temperatures. They held an extended, bloodcurdling scream for more than three minutes, then chanted “14 minutes. 14 minutes. Six lives. Six lives.”

On March 30, hundreds of people from across Tennessee flooded the Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass gun-control legislation.

During the protests, Jones, Johnson and Pearson walked to the front of the chamber to join in the chants that reverberated from the gallery.

There were protesters of all ages — including children “from strollers to high school,” according to <a href="https://twitter.com/VoteGloriaJ/status/1641460264972189697?s=20" target=_blank>Johnson </a>— padding the gallery, filling the rotunda and overflowing outside the building.

Jones, who held a sign that read “Protect kids, not guns,” led the crowd on the chamber balcony, shouting “No action, no peace!” into a megaphone. Afterward, Pearson spoke through the megaphone about gun violence and chanted “Enough is enough.”

“There comes a time when you have to do something out of the ordinary,” Jones <a href="https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1641558600165343232?s=20" target=_blank>tweeted </a>later that day. He added that the lawmakers “could not go about business as usual as thousands were protesting outside demanding action.”

The same day, Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) referred to the Democrats’ actions as an “<a href="https://omny.fm/shows/the-hal-show-podcast/tn-house-speaker-says-protests-in-nashville-was-an?fbclid=IwAR0lilxBtFqbFMJAEMCxJv7iI_pxvMcYV8n_zd3Dxl520GkWKHPjXyuyvMM" target=_blank>insurrection</a>.” He said they had committed “multiple violations” of the General Assembly’s rules.

Republicans in the House filed the resolutions Monday to oust Jones, Johnson and Pearson, saying the three lawmakers “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor” to the House.

As the resolutions were filed Monday, protesters shouted and began chanting in the gallery, which Sexton ordered to be cleared and for state troopers to remove hecklers.

While the Tennessee Three awaited the votes this week, their supporters organized rallies and protests against their expulsion. Some were part of a caravan to Nashville, leaving their homes across the state in the early morning to reach the Capitol for Thursday’s proceedings.

Republican Reps. Bulso, Andrew Farmer and Bud Hulsey, who filed the resolutions, did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.

Shortly after the proceedings, the Tennessee House Republicans’ Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/tnhousegop/status/1644015591898882050" target=_blank>tweeted</a> that the three lawmakers were interested only in “being in the spotlight. Today, they got what the wanted — the spotlight is on them, and suddenly they’re capable of inciting peace during session, instead of chaos.” Rep. Jody Barrett (R) echoed that statement, <a href="https://twitter.com/Jodyforstaterep/status/1644080827582623744" target=_blank>writing</a>: “Question: Are the voices of the 72k people of one district more deserving of being heard than the 72k of another district?”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus described the expulsions as “targeted” moves that were “racist and anti-democratic.” Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the move “legislative racism and cowardice.”

The White House opposed the resolutions to expel the representatives. After Jones’s expulsion, President Biden <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1644100520636739586" target=_blank>tweeted</a> that “punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action” is “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”

Somasundaram, Paúl and Salcedo reported from Washington. Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.

Claire Gibson

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BA in journalism, BA in biology

Praveena Somasundaram is a reporter on The Washington Post's General Assignment desk. She started at The Post as an intern in 2022 and has previously reported at the Dallas Morning News and the Charlotte Observer.

Praveena Somasundaram

Fulbright Scholar, Germany

Northwestern University, BS in journalism and international studies

Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff is a reporter on The Washington Post's General Assignment desk, where he covers breaking news and writes of-the-moment features. He has reported for The Post from Europe and covered crime and criminal justice on the Metro desk. He previously worked for the Texas Tribune and was a Fulbright scholar in Germany.

Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff

FSNE Journalism Contest, second place for news reporting (Spanish language), Florida Society of News Editors, 2020

ICPA Contest, second place for best podcast, Indiana Collegiate Press Association, 2021

R.V. Ley Journalism Award, for outstanding achievement and exceptional promise, John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy, 2021

University of Notre Dame, BA in political science and economics

María Luisa Paúl is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. She joined The Post as an intern on the General Assignment desk and has previously reported at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald. 


María Luisa Paúl

Columbia College Chicago, BA in Journalism

Columbia University, MS in Investigative Journalism

Andrea Salcedo is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2020 as an overnight reporter on the Morning Mix team. Previously, she covered breaking news and features for the New York Times metro desk. 