KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee General Assembly voted on whether to expel three Democratic representatives for demonstrating and calling for gun control on the House floor in the wake of The Covenant School shooting in Nashville.
The Republican supermajority voted in favor of two resolutions to expel Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis). Another resolution to expel Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) failed.
The move came after Johnson, Jones and Pearson walked up to "the well" in the House of Representatives on March 30. One representative displayed a sign, and another spoke through a megaphone. Jones said they spoke because their constituents' voices were not being heard.
On Thursday, Jones spoke to the General Assembly and said that they spoke with a bullhorn on the House floor in response to microphones being cut off during legislative meetings in the past.
In an interview with 10News, Johnson said that the three knew they were breaking a House rule.
"I fully acknowledge that. But I broke that rule in order to fight for Tennessee's children, Tennessee's teachers, Tennessee's churches. We have got to address this issue. And we have got to make sure that both sides of the aisle are talking about this issue. And I will break protocol if I need to fight for Tennessee kids," Johnson said. "2,000 people were outside the doors begging us to talk about gun violence. The least we could do is acknowledge that they were there... that they cared and they're fighting for their community."
Jones spoke to the assembly before the vote. The resolution expelling him was the first of the three.
"This is not about expelling us as individuals. This is your attempt to expel the voice of the people from the people's house, and it will not be successful," he said. "What Tennessee is doing is a power grab, ousting three lawmakers simply because you have the numbers to do it."
He also answered questions from lawmakers in the House. One lawmaker asked him whether his actions were disruptive to the House of Representatives.
"My constituents deserve a voice, that is disruptive to the status quo. You shall have us bow down, but we shall not bow," said Jones. "What is disorderly as a body is voter suppression and rigged maps to take control of our state ... that is disorderly to democracy and that is disruptive to what we have an obligation to uphold."
Representative Gino Bulso (R - Brentwood) also spoke and said he believed that Jones' address was a "compelling and eloquent" reason for why he planned to vote to expel Jones.
"He called our speaker a liar," said Bulson. "The one that I really do not understand is [that voting to expel him], which is really what he wants, we would be undoing the will of 200,000 constituents. But we know that's not true because we can read our Constitution."
He said that the voters would have a chance to vote Jones back into the House of Representatives, and Bulso said that he would be welcomed back.
Jones responded by saying that Bulson's comments were racist. He also said that Bulso tried to "incite violence" against him by calling him a "damn disgrace" on the elevator two days before the vote.
"This body chooses to burn the Constitution. We passed more lawsuits than legislation," Jones said. "Representative Bulso, I will apologize when you and the speaker apologize to the families at Covenant ... I broke a rule, I acknowledge that. I did not break my oath."
The House of Representatives called the question before all members had spoken following Jones' comments, effectively cutting off debate. Representative John Ray Clemmons (D- Nashville) condemned the vote after debate was stopped on the House floor.
"You don't belong here. You want to call the question? I am humiliated, I am embarrassed," he said before the vote. "The loss of life, not just those six loss of life, but people across this state that continue to be killed by gun violence."
A group of lawmakers stood by Jones as he spoke for five minutes before the vote.
"My prayer to you is that even if you expel me, you still act to address the crisis of school shootings," said Jones. "I pray that we uphold our oath on this floor, because, colleagues, the world is watching."
Lawmakers voted to expel him in a 72-25 vote.
Lawmakers then took up a resolution to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville). One lawmaker said that Rep. Johnson had not shouted during the protest, and condemned the language of the resolution which said she did. He also said she did not display a sign, as the resolution claimed.
"This document is not only inaccurate — it's an outright distortion of her conduct," the lawmaker said. "She's never had a single ethics violation ... she's never broken the public trust, not one time."
Representative John Mark Windle (D - Livingston) also spoke. He said that in previous incidents where rules were broken, lawmakers did not consider expelling members.
"Many of you are fully aware that members of both parties are shocked at what is occurring today," he said. "A vote for expulsion under the present circumstance is a vote against due process ... and most importantly, entirely against the will of the people."
She said she did not speak on the House floor with the other two representatives on Thursday, as the resolution claimed. She said the resolution was not factual and said that by joining the other representatives, she felt she was bringing the voice of people in her district who wanted more gun restrictions to the House.
"I absolutely never yelled," she said. "We may have broken a House rule by coming to this well, but much of what is in this document is false."
Rep. Gino Bulso (R - Brentwood), insisted that the resolution was factual. He filed the resolution to expel Rep. Johnson. Language from the resolution is below.
WHEREAS, at approximately 10:49 AM, Representative Johnson and her colleagues, having gathered at her desk, moved in unison to the well and began shouting without recognition;
He repeatedly asked if she had yelled or if she had disrupted the chamber. Johnson repeatedly denied it.
"What is my crime, sir? You continue to ask this question. I think we've been through it over and over and over. I came to the well, and I stood with my colleagues," she said. "If you keep asking it, you're going to keep getting the same answer."
Rep. Johnson also disagreed with the resolution's claims that she disrupted the House's proceedings, saying that the House was in recess.
"We have a duty to protect this chamber's integrity," said Bulson. "They tried to shred our Constitution with a bullhorn."
He also said that he felt without a guarantee that Johnson wouldn't participate in similar conduct in the future, she needed to be expelled. He later said that Johnson, Jones and Bulson should be held collectively responsible for one of them bringing a megaphone and displaying a sign.
However, Rep. Johnson said that if that were the goal, then all three should have been in the same resolution.
"At the worst, you were inconvenienced for a few minutes," said Clemmons.
Rep. Johnson said she also "absolutely did not" bring a bullhorn into the chamber.
She explained that she met a friend who wanted to go to the protest, and Johnson showed her to where demonstrators were gathering before handing Price's megaphone back to her near the doors. Later, she placed the megaphone in her "scooter" so her friend could enter the chamber. She said the megaphone was still in her office as of Thursday afternoon, should any representatives want to see it.
Rep. Sam McKenzie (D - Knoxville) also spoke in support of Rep. Johnson.
"Her heart is about service. We had a lot going on here," he said. "We've been begging you all not to shut our voice off ... It is not worth expelling a member that represents 70,000 people. Gloria and I are unique compared to the other three. Plans are being made already by our mayor, WWE Kane, to usurp the process and bring a Republican down."
Rep. Johnson said that she had raised her hand for 45 minutes in the past to speak in a previous vote, emphasizing that she had her voice silenced in the legislature several times.
She also spoke about being moved to a space the size of a closet after being the only opposing voice to a bill.
"My colleague is right, today does not look anything like any other day in the legislature with all these cameras from across the world, and this is great," she said. "Maybe if they were here, maybe my colleagues would have had a chance to speak from their desks."
She also spoke about an incident where Rep. Justin Lafferty (R - Knoxville) shoved Jones and said it was "remarkable" that the incident was not being discussed as part of the expulsion discussion.
"Many of my colleagues walk past those folks without ever making eye contact with them. I cried with them that morning ... something that would keep the guns from ever getting to the schoolhouse doors, and that is why I walked to the front with my colleagues who felt the same because their generation is a generation that grew up in this gun violence. We are better than this, Tennessee," she said.
She started to get teary-eyed as she spoke during her last five minutes, speaking about conversations she had with a family member who works in gun manufacturing. She also discussed her experience as a gun owner, emphasizing that her gun was her father's service revolver.
"We've done so much damage up here to vulnerable communities this year ... and I cannot tell you how many calls I received from Republicans and Democrats and Independents from my district saying thank you, and from other constituents in Knox County," she said. "We need to allow people to speak for the 70,000 folks that elected us up here."
The resolution to expel her failed in a 65-30 vote. The resolution failed because it required a two-thirds vote, and failed by a single vote.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon also released a statement about the vote. That statement is below.
“I am incredibly proud of Gloria Johnson's courage to stand up for children, for teachers, and for common sense gun safety. The people of Knoxville stand with all who are ready to put politics behind us and work together to save lives.
“Thank you to the members of the Tennessee House of Representatives who voted to keep her as our duly elected representative.”
Every member of the Knoxville delegation voted to expel her, except for Rep. McKenzie.
Lawmakers took up a resolution that would expel Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D - Memphis).
"It is said that I broke the Constitution," said Pearson. "Nobody reached out and said, 'Hey, this is what you can expect.'"
He said that he approached the chamber to bring his constituents' voices to the House of Representatives. He said that when other rules were broken during regular sessions, there were no severe consequences for members.
"There is something that tells me it is not the rules being broken but what we are advocating for, that we are advocating for folks who have been killed in our communities," he said.
He also said that he could not disrupt proceedings because the House of Representatives was in recess when he approached the podium with the two other representatives.
"None of us did anything to believe that we deserved expulsion from this House," he said. "Well, I've been looking colleagues at our permanent rules of order."
He said he believed there was a "contradiction" in the rules, and read off the rules during his opening statement. He said that the House rules require members to face censure, not expulsion, if they stay at the podium without being allowed to.
"We are not relinquishing our seats. With this vote, you are taking it," he said.
Rep. Andrew Farmer (R - Sevierville) asked him about a letter Pearson sent to lawmakers about the protest and whether he broke decorum. Farmer introduced the resolution to expel Pearson.
Pearson said that he stood by the letter and by his account on Thursday.
"I'm standing here to fight for our member. I'm standing here to fight for all of our members because we have a new member standing in the well defending his right to be here," said Rep. Jesse Chism (D - Memphis). "A member who is just learning the decorum of this body. A member who has proven himself hardworking, eloquent and articulate ... This is a member that deserves to be a part of this body."
Pearson also said that Thursday was the first day he has seen "actual debate" on the House floor, saying it was the first time when all lawmakers had a chance to speak and the debate did not end quickly after motions were introduced.
"Those ways of operating that entrench the status quo only lead to division," he said.
Farmer reiterated that he believed Pearson did not understand why a resolution was filed against him.
"It doesn't give you the right to enrage folks that are here to watch this body to conduct business and talk about things that you know we worked hard, very hard, to protect the children of Tennessee," said Farmer. "Don't start by commandeering the well while we're conducting business ... That's why you're standing there, because of that temper tantrum that day. Because of that yearning to have attention."
Pearson asked how many people in the chamber would want "to be spoken to that way?"
"He's comfortable doing it because there's a decorum that allows it. There's a decorum that allows you to belittle people. We didn't belittle nobody," said Pearson. "We haven't taken our oath seriously. We don't take people we agree with seriously. We tell them, 'You are just throwing a temper tantrum.'"
Representative William Lamberth (R - Portland) said that he believed the voice of his constituents was "drowned out" because the representatives using a megaphone.
"I don't think that one person's voice is more important than anyone. What about the thousands of people who were here that Thursday that you never recognized? What about the thousands of people here that your colleagues never made eye contact with, or smirked at, or laughed at? What about the thousands of people who came here and said, 'We needed to end gun violence,' and were called 'insurrectionists' by the speaker of this House," Pearson said.
Some lawmakers joined Pearson as he spoke for the final five minutes. The state's camera feed incorrectly labeled him as recently-expelled former Rep. Justin Jones during that time. A few minutes later, it was corrected.
The resolution to expel him passed in a 69-26 vote.
Tennessee Republican leadership previously removed Johnson, Jones and Pearson from their committees and subcommittees on April 3. Later that day, Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), Rep. Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport) and Rep. Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville) filed resolutions to expel the three Democrats for their actions on March 30.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton said he would vote to expel the three representatives.
Johnson spoke during the opening remarks on April 6.
"I just wanted to welcome all of the folks of all of the buses that came from Knoxville," Johnson said. "We appreciate you, we thank you and we are here for our constituents."
A large crowd gathered inside and outside the Tennessee Capitol on Thursday to show support for the three Democratic representatives. Johnson asked those in the gallery to remain quiet so that they could be witnesses to the "entire process."
Before the expulsion votes, the House discussed a bill about school security. Johnson spoke about her first-hand experience as a teacher who lived through a school shooting, and the crowd cheered when Johnson spoke.