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Tennessee state Representative Justin Pearson was sworn in on Thursday morning after he was reappointed to the statehouse from which he and another Democratic colleague were expelled for leading a gun protest on the House floor that disrupted government proceedings.
To applause, whoops, and cheers, Pearson stood before a crowd of about 50 supporters and a gaggle of media as he was sworn in on the steps of the capitol.
Pearson on Wednesday was appointed to his vacated seat by the county legislature that includes his Memphis district. His swearing-in concluded a whirlwind two weeks that made Tennessee the epicenter of U.S. politics.
Tennessee Republicans on April 6 kicked out Pearson and Justin Jones, another young, black Democrat, as punishment for breaking rules of decorum a week earlier by leading a protest inside the House chamber in the wake of a school shooting that killed three children and three adults.
Jones was reinstated to his vacated seat by the Nashville-area county legislature on Monday and sworn in on the steps of the capitol in Nashville that same day.
Some 200 miles to the west, Pearson was reappointed by the Memphis-area county board on Wednesday and was sworn in around 8 a.m. Central Daylight Time.
This is the third time Pearson was sworn in this year. He had been appointed to the previously vacant seat in January and won a special election in March.
“We’re going to keep fighting to end gun violence. We’re going to keep fighting to end environmental racism and injustice,” Pearson told reporters after his reappointment.
Tennessee House Republicans, who have a supermajority, have said in a statement they will welcome back any expelled state lawmakers returned by county-level governments, so long as those members follow the legislature’s rules. The state constitution gives local legislative bodies the power to appoint interim state representatives to fill vacancies until special elections can be held. Jones and Pearson have said they will run in special elections, for which no date has yet been set.
Jones and Pearson helped lead the March 30 demonstration calling for gun control, disrupting a legislative session, along with Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson.
Johnson narrowly escaped also being expelled for breaching House decorum rules. She told reporters afterward she believed she survived because she is white.
Copyright 2023 Thomson/Reuters