Justin Jones, one of two Black Democrats expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives for leading a gun control protest on the House floor, was sworn back in as a rebuke to the state’s Republican supermajority on Monday.
Within an hour of the Metropolitan Nashville Council unanimously re-appointing Mr. Jones to the seat, the young lawmaker had returned to the Republican-controlled legislature that had overwhelmingly voted to expel him just four days before.
After leading hundreds of supporters on a march from the council meeting, Mr. Justin Jones took his oath of office on the steps of the State Capitol, now empowered with a national platform and the backing of Democrats across the state and the country. The moment came two weeks after the mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville that prompted Mr. Jones and two other Democrats to protest in the House chamber.
“No expulsion, no attempt to silence us will stop us, but it will only galvanize and strengthen our movement,” Mr. Justin Jones said in his first formal remarks.
“Power to the people!” he concluded, and the gallery erupted in cheers.
Three 9-year-olds and three adults were killed in the shooting. Following the shooting, the protest called for increased gun control, and Jones and Pearson used a bullhorn to be heard.
The decision to expel the two Black legislators has drew national attention to the Tennessee legislature, with critics labeling the expulsions anti-democratic.
Nashville Council Member Delishia Porterfield nominated Jones to return to the seat he was expelled from on Monday, accusing the state legislature of launching “an egregious assault on our democracy.”
“With this vote, we will send a strong message to our state government and across the country that we will not tolerate threats to our democracy,” Porterfield said.