April 07, 2023 10:00 AM UTC

At Least You Don't Live In Tennessee

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• by: Colorado Pols

NBC News reports on the shocking expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers by the GOP supermajority Tennessee House of Representatives yesterday, while the vote to expel a third white woman representative narrowly failed:

Republican legislators in Tennessee voted Thursday to expel two Black Democrats from the state House over their protests on the chamber floor against gun violence last week, while a vote to expel a third, white Democratic representative fell short.

In the first vote, Republicans expelled Rep. Justin Jones. The second vote, to kick out Rep. Gloria Johnson, failed. Republicans then voted to remove Rep. Justin Pearson…

The resolutions accused each of the Democratic legislators of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and purposely bringing “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” during protests against gun violence on the House floor last week.

A mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school on March 27th resulted in a student walkout and protest at the Tennesee State Capitol similar to what we’ve seen in Colorado with East High School’s series of protest marches, during which three Democratic representatives cheered on the student protesters in the House gallery and even led a chant from the House floor at the height of the student protest. At most this might be considered a minor breach of decorum, punishable by a lecture. As Colorado knows from the most recent example of expelled state Rep. Steve Lebsock in 2018 over sexual harassment allegations, overriding the will of voters and removing a member is a penalty that’s supposed to be reserved for serious cases of misconduct.

As of yesterday in Tennessee, it’s a means of silencing political opposition. The optics of this are made immeasurably worse by the sparing of the white woman representative targeted for expulsion by a single vote, which removed the only pretense Republicans could cling to besides down-home Tennessee racism. In Colorado, where Democrats enjoy the same supermajority power, this would be like expelling Rep. Scott “There Is No” Bottoms over his deplorable rhetoric during dozens of obstructionist filibusters this session. We know it’s tempting, but that’s not what expulsion is for either.

Politically, this arrogant abuse of power by Tennessee Republicans seems very likely to backfire, greatly increasing the profile of these two expelled lawmakers who now have the option of winning back their seats in a special election–or moving on to something bigger and better now that they’re nationwide heroes.

Momentary satisfaction will give way to the realization that Tennessee Republicans made a huge mistake.