#VP Kamala Harris to meet with 'Tennessee Three' in surprise visit to Nashville after expulsions over gun protests
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit to Nashville on Friday to push for gun control and meet with two Tennessee Democratic lawmakers who were expelled from the General Assembly after protesting for gun reform on the floor of the statehouse.
The hastily scheduled trip came after Tennessee House Republicans voted Thursday to expel Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, on a 72-25 vote, and Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, 69-26, in moves that drew condemnation from President Joe Biden and became a national flashpoint on gun control and race.
The two Black lawmakers – and a third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville – were punished by Republicans for leading protests with bullhorns from the House floor after a mass shooting at a Nashville private Christian school killed six people. Johnson, who is white, dodged an expulsion by one vote.
“Six people, including three children, were killed last week in a school shooting in Nashville,” Harris said in a tweet. “How did Republican lawmakers in Tennessee respond? By expelling their colleagues who stood with Tennesseans and said enough is enough. This is undemocratic and dangerous.”
A White House official said Harris was going to Nashville to lift “the voices” of thousands of young voters who have led demonstrations at the Tennessee state Capitol to change gun laws but haven’t swayed the state’s Republican majority.
Harris will also renew Biden’s call for Congress to pass a nationwide ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
More: Tennessee Republicans expel two of ‘Tennessee Three’ House Democrats for leading pro-gun reform protest
Harris intends to meet with the state Legislature’s Democratic caucus, including Jones, Pearson and Johnson, as well as young people who led protests at the Tennessee Capitol.
The vice president “wants to make sure that these young people’s voices are heard,” the White House official said. “In the face of a very tragic event, they want action.”
The trio of lawmakers, dubbed the “Tennessee Three,” were accused by Republican leadership of breaching decorum and floor rules for speaking at the House podium on March 30 without recognition.
More: ‘Congress has to act’: Biden says there’s nothing more he can do on his own to address guns
But by moving ahead with the expulsions, the state’s Republican House speaker, Cameron Sexton, turned two Democrats who held no legislative power in a Republican supermajority into national heroes on the political left.
Biden, in a statement, called the expulsions “shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented.” He said that “rather than debating the merits” of gun control, “these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tennessee House expulsion: Kamala Harris to meet with ousted members
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