Ousted Tennessee Democrat Justin Pearson reinstated by local commission

Local government officials in Memphis, Tennessee, voted on Wednesday to return the second of two Democratic state lawmakers expelled from the statehouse last week by Republicans over a gun safety protest following another school shooting.

The Shelby county commission voted to nominate Justin Pearson, 29, as interim state representative to fill the vacancy created when he and fellow Democrat Justin Jones were ousted for taking part in a gun reform protest in the chamber following the murders of six people last month at a Nashville school.

The two Black men had recently joined the legislature and condemned their expulsion as a racist action. Joe Biden had criticized the expulsion as unprecedented and Kamala Harris railed against the action on a hastily-arranged trip to Nashville last Friday less than 24 hours after the two lawmakers were ousted.

Jones, 27, was returned to his seat on Monday in a unanimous vote by the Nashville council.

A community organizer before entering politics, Pearson condemned what he saw as hypocrisy from Republican lawmakers.

The Republican majority opted not to expel a third member of the so-called Tennessee Three, Democrat Gloria Johnson, 60, who is white.