Expelled Democrat Faces Vote on Returning Him to Tennessee House

NASHVILLE — County officials were set to vote Wednesday on whether to send Justin J. Pearson, one of two Black Democratic representatives ousted from the Tennessee House of Representatives after a gun control protest on the House floor, back to his seat in the state legislature.

The vote comes less than a week after Mr. Pearson of Memphis and State Representative Justin Jones of Nashville were abruptly expelled from the legislature, just the third time such a punishment has been used in the state House since the Civil War era. Angered by the disruption of the protest and the disregard for House rules, Republicans quickly moved to expel the pair, though an effort to remove Representative Gloria Johnson, a white lawmaker from Knoxville, failed.

The expulsions of two of the chamber’s youngest Black lawmakers infuriated Democrats, who were already frustrated with their inability to counter the Republican supermajority, and further galvanized the hundreds of demonstrators who repeatedly marched to the State Capitol to call for tougher gun laws after the Covenant School shooting that left three students and three staff members dead.

Under Tennessee law, the governing bodies of counties have the ability to name an interim representative to serve in the final weeks of the General Assembly, before special elections later this year. Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson have vowed to run for their seats.

Mr. Jones has already returned to the State Capitol, triumphantly taking his oath on the building’s steps on Monday after the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County unanimously voted to name him as an interim representative. Mr. Pearson could be named back to his seat as early as Wednesday, should a majority of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners agree to appoint him, and be sworn in as early as Thursday.

“I am feeling determined and thankful with the actions of the Metro Council and the movement of people who are rising up around the issue of gun violence and injustice in our state and in our country, who are acting to do something in this moment,” Mr. Pearson said in an interview Wednesday morning.

He rallied with supporters ahead of the meeting, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Memphis. Mr. Pearson was relatively new to the legislature after winning a special election in late January.

As protesters continue to pressure the legislature to move to tighten access to guns in the state, Republican lawmakers have largely focused on legislation that would pour millions of dollars into security at both public and private schools. But on Tuesday, Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, announced he would sign an executive order tightening background checks for buying guns in the state and speeding up the process of reviewing criminal histories and mental health information from the courts.

Mr. Lee also called on the legislature to draft and pass what he described as “an order of protection law” that would ensure that people found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others would not have access to guns. He repeatedly declined to refer to the measure as a red flag law, a term some conservatives have resisted both on the state and the national level, instead describing it as “a law that I think is appropriate for our state today.”

He has been open about the personal impact of the attack at the Covenant School: His wife, Maria, was close friends with Cindy Peak, one of the staff members killed, and the two women were set to have dinner the night of the shooting.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, a Republican, has also expressed support for a red flag law after the Covenant School shooting. Police officials had pointedly noted that while the parents of the shooter believed their child should not own any guns, particularly while receiving treatment for an unspecified emotional disorder, there was no law in Tennessee that could have allowed them to confiscate any weapons.

But other Republicans in the state legislature have signaled opposition, warning that such a law could deprive people of individual due process. Nearly 20 states have passed a version of a red flag law, many of them after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

“The governor is right to make this a priority before session ends,” said State Senator Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat and the minority leader. She added, “We are ready to work with the governor and we urge our Republican colleagues in the legislature to move quickly to put gun reform legislation on his desk.”

When Mr. Lee announced support for legislation toughening school security this month, he was flanked by his Republican colleagues. But on Tuesday, he stood alone at a Metropolitan Nashville Police precinct, in front of a banner thanking officers for their swift response to the Covenant School attack. That unaccompanied appearance raised questions about the depth of Republican support for taking weapons away from people deemed to be dangerous.

“It’s going to require coming together, laying down our previously held positions potentially, and it really is just going to require finding the things that we agree upon together,” Mr. Lee said. But he acknowledged that the General Assembly “will determine what that process looks like for them.”