The Republican supermajority in the Tennessee House of Representatives walked to the brink of unprecedented political retribution against Knoxville's Gloria Johnson, but ultimately backed down. They voted against expelling her even though they voted to oust her two Black Democratic colleagues, Reps. Justin Jones from Nashville and Justin Pearson from Memphis.
The House was set to expel Johnson and two freshmen Democratic colleagues, Jones and Justin Pearson of Memphis, for leading "disorderly" gun reform chants after the deaths of three children and three adults at The Covenant School in Nashville. Johnson's vote failed by a vote of 65-30. Sixty-six votes were needed for expulsion.
Thousands of protesters came to the Capitol on April 6 to witness the vote and back efforts to ban assault rifles like the one used in the shooting. The nation's attention was trained on the Republicans who brought the expulsion bills, which many saw as a misguided partisan act against popular lawmakers working to stop shootings.
The three Democrats took to the House Speaker's well March 30 to talk without being recognized. They already were punished for the chants by being stripped of their committee assignments. (Pearson was elected in January in a special election and held no committee assignments.)
Earlier in the afternoon April 6, Jones was expelled by a 72-25 vote. Pearson was later expelled with a 69-26 vote. Johnson, who is white, was the only one of the three to survive.
The contentious expulsion effort has made its way into the national conversation because many described it as a retributive assertion of partisan power by the Republican supermajority, which can pass legislation at will with a 74 to 25 advantage over Democrats in the House. The votes removed representation for nearly 150,000 Tennesseans who overwhelmingly elected Jones and Pearson.
Jones and Pearson are both rising young Black legislators – Jones is 27 and Pearson is 28 – who represent portions of the state's two largest metro regions. The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators called the action unconstitutional and "morally bankrupt."
Expulsion votes make history
The expulsion vote was unlike any other vote in Tennessee history.
The House has expelled lawmakers only twice since the days following the Civil War. The most recent was in 2016 when Rep. Jeremy Durham was removed for alleged sexual misconduct. Before that, the most recent expulsion was in 1980 when the House removed Robert Fisher after he was convicted of soliciting a $1,000 bribe to kill a bill.
The only other expulsions in House history came during an 1866 special session. Six lawmakers were ousted after they tried to prevent Tennessee from ratifying the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide citizenship to former slaves.
In an interview with Knox News this week before the vote, Johnson said she was ready to explore every option in response to expulsion, including a lawsuit.
“They are doing this because we stood up for dying children, because we are trying to protect the community,” she said. “The very first action this body takes after a shooting that killed three children and three school personnel, the very first action they’re gonna take is to expel the very people who were speaking out against it. ...”
What happened during the protest?
Johnson stood with Jones and Pearson when they took over the well of the House chamber on March 30 and began chanting through a megaphone. She, notably, did not use the megaphone and she did not yell, an argument she and her representatives made during her defense April 6.
"We may have broken a House rule by coming to this well, but much of this document is false,” Johnson said.
In defense of Johnson, House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said Johnson did nothing worthy of an expulsion.
“She walked from there to there and you want to expel her for that? She did not raise her voice. She did not pound the desk. She didn’t have a megaphone. She didn’t have a button. Nothing.”
Just enough of their colleagues agreed.
The March 30 demonstration was peaceful – both inside and outside the House chamber where thousands gathered to demand a ban on the types of assault weapons used in the school shooting. There was no property damage, no injuries or arrests made, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, which provides security at the the Capitol in Nashville.
After their protest, House Speaker Cameron Sexton immediately called a recess in House proceedings, halting legislative business for nearly an hour, and ordered security to clear the House galleries.
House Minority Leader Karen Camper, D-Memphis, described the protest as “good trouble,” a nod to the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ guiding principal on civil disobedience. Notably, Lewis' name adorns the road next to the Tennessee Capitol.
Support for Johnson, Jones and Pearson arrives from Knoxville
A chartered bus left Knoxville before dawn so supporters could be in building for the vote and participate in the gun reform demonstrations held inside and outside the Capitol.
Those who traveled to Nashville represented Knoxville's City Council Movement, the Democratic Socialists of Knoxville, the Knox County Democratic Party and Planned Parenthood. “I came to stand in solidarity with those closest to the pain, our little ones, and to stand with Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson who are being punished for standing with those closest to the pain," said Hasan Atatrah of the City Council Movement, a group that started years ago to elect Black leaders.
"Our people deserve leaders like the Tennessee Three who are unafraid to challenge those who hold the power, who refuse to center our youth, who refuse to center victims and survivors of gun violence, which is the leading cause of death in young people here and at home in Knoxville, Tennessee," Atatrah continued.
Knoxville City Council member Amelia Parker said she was there "fighting the good fight" for voters whose voices were stripped away when the members were punished.
"These attempts to remove these representatives are an affront to our democracy and must not go unchallenged,” she told Knox News.
What to know about Rep. Gloria Johnson
Johnson, 60, was first elected to the legislature in 2012 in District 13, one of the few true toss-up districts in the state. She narrowly lost reelection in 2014 and lost again in 2016 – both times to Republican Eddie Smith – before easily winning the seat back in 2018.
During the GOP-led redistricting process last year, Johnson’s district was carved up and her home was included in Democrat Rep. Sam McKenzie’s District 15. Johnson promised not to run against Knoxville’s only other Democratic state representative, so she moved and won reelection by a landslide in the newly created District 90.
Johnson, and her 50,000-plus Twitter followers, have been a thorn in the side of the Republican majority since she arrived in Nashville. It is a badge she wears proudly.
During the 2021 session, Johnson moved her desk into a hallway in the Cordell Hull legislative office building after she was assigned a small, windowless conference room as her office, while her assistant was assigned to a closet down the hall.
Johnson told Knox News she believed the office assignment was a "petty" move by Sexton to punish her for being the only member not to vote to reelect him as speaker.
Sexton replied that members often are displeased with new office assignments, and noted that Johnson's newly assigned office was twice the size of her first one in 2012.
Johnson is a retired teacher. She was born in Colorado, moved to Knoxville as a child, graduated from Farragut High School and earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
She has been named to the National Foundation of Women Legislators Women of Excellence. Before being elected to the Tennessee House, Johnson served as Knox County Democratic Party chairwoman. In 2012, she told Knox News she hadn't been involved in politics before being inspired by President Barack Obama to become politically active.
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Email tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Twitter @tyler_whetstone.
Knox News people and trends editor Robin Gibson contributed to this report.