Former Tennessee representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are seeking reappointments after being recently ejected from the Republican-controlled Tennessee House for participating in a demonstration that called for tighter gun laws.
Pearson and Jones both said in “Meet the Press”, Sunday, that they will run for their respective seats at the next special election.
At a meeting on Monday that has been particularly called, the metro council of Nashville is likely to re-appoint Justin Jones to the position, according to The Associated Press. Shelby County Commission Chair Mickell Lowery released a press release on Sunday. The board will decide on whether or not to reappoint Justin Pearson, a Memphis resident to his current position during a Wednesday meeting.
“I believe the expulsion of State Representative Justin Pearson was conducted in a hasty manner without consideration of other corrective action methods,” Lowery said in the statement.
Due to the expulsion by the GOP supermajority of Jones and Pearson, approximately 140,000 Black residents in Nashville and Memphis do not have a Representative in the House. The APreported.
Democratic Representatives Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson led a chant from the House floor to advocate for gun reform on March 30, as demonstrators gathered at the State Capitol.
Jones, 27, and Pearson, 28, both of whom are Black, were voted to be dismissed from the House, while the vote to dismiss Johnson, who is white, failed. These votes were criticized as racist.