After being reappointed to the Tennessee statehouse, Justin Pearson was sworn in on Thursday morning. However, he and another Democratic colleague were ejected for organizing a gun protest on the House floor.
Pearson was sworn in on the capital steps by around 50 supporters and reporters amid clapping, whoops, and shouts.
Pearson’s Memphis district county legislature appointed him to his vacant seat on Wednesday. His swearing-in ended a tumultuous two weeks, making Tennessee the hub of U.S. politics.
Tennessee Republicans expelled Pearson and Justin Jones, another young Black Democrat, on April 6 for spearheading a protest in the House chamber after a school shooting that murdered three children and three adults.
On Monday, the Nashville-area county legislature returned Jones to his vacant position and swore him in on the capital steps.
Pearson was reappointed by the Memphis county board on Wednesday and sworn in at 8 a.m. Central Daylight Time (1300 GMT) 200 miles (320 km) west.
Pearson’s third swearing-in this year. After being assigned to the seat in January, he won a March special election.
We’ll keep battling gun violence. “We’ll fight environmental racism and injustice,” Pearson told reporters after his reappointment.
Tennessee The supermajority House Republicans have declared they will accept expelled state lawmakers returned by county governments if they obey the legislature’s procedures. The state constitution allows local legislative bodies to designate temporary state representatives pending special elections. As a result, Jones and Pearson will run in extraordinarily unscheduled elections.
Jones, Pearson, and Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson led the March 30 gun control protest that disrupted a parliamentary session. Outraged residents supported them.
Johnson nearly avoided House decorum expulsion. She then informed reporters she survived because she was white.
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