The only one of the Nashville Three not expelled was white Rep. Gloria Johnson.
Seven Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the expulsion of Ms. Johnson. Asked why she thought she had survived the expulsion vote, Ms. Johnson, who is white, said, “It might have to do with the color of my skin.”
The ousted lawmakers, two Black representatives, could run again for their seats. But their expulsions temporarily leave thousands of residents in Memphis and Nashville without representation in the House of Representatives in the final weeks of a legislative session in which increasingly hard-line Republicans from rural districts have used the power of their supermajority to clamp down on the state’s more liberal cities and muscle through conservative priorities.
“The world is watching Tennessee,” Mr. Jones said. “And what is happening here today is a farce of democracy.”
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...the General Assembly has carved up the state’s more Democratic-leaning cities and all but guaranteed that the majority of political representation is determined in Republican primaries instead of in general elections, leaving lawmakers more responsive to a far-right base.
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...emotions spilled into the chamber a week ago when three Democrats, including Ms. Johnson, brought proceedings to a halt as Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson led chants from the floor of the House with a bullhorn. The disruption came, the three lawmakers said, after...Republicans had...turned off their microphones during debate.
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At least three members of the Metro Council that governs Nashville pledged to reappoint Mr. Jones to fill the seat ahead of a special election.