A vote to expel Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson from Tennessee’s GOP-controlled House of Representatives has failed, a week after she and two other Democrats led a gun reform protest on the House floor.
The vote over rules violations for Johnson was 65-30. Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds majority of the total membership.
Republicans earlier expelled Rep. Justin Jones over that protest, which followed a deadly mass shooting at a Nashville school. The vote for Jones split along party lines, 72-25.
The third Democrat involved, Justin Pearson, also faces a possible vote on his removal from office Thursday.
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Protesters flooded the state Capitol in support of the Democrats as the legislators were set to take up three resolutions filed by GOP lawmakers Monday seeking to expel Jones, of Nashville, Johnson of Knoxville and Pearson of Memphis, a step the state House has taken only twice since the 1860s.
“There comes a time where people get sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Jones said in a speech prior to a vote on his expulsion. “And so my colleagues, I say that what we did was act in our responsibility as legislators to serve and give voice to the grievances of people who have been silenced.”
“We called for you all to ban assault weapons,” he said, “and you respond with an assault on democracy.”
Jones added: “How can you bring dishonor to an already dishonorable house?”
