Expelled Tennessee lawmaker Justin Jones vows to return - but can he?

Expelled Tennessee lawmaker Justin Jones says he will seek re-election for his Nashville seat, calling his removal an attack on democracy.

Republicans voted to expel Mr Jones and his fellow Democratic colleague Justin Pearson for leading a gun control protest on 30 March.

The extraordinary move to expel the lawmakers came one week after a shooting at a Nashville school.

Six people, including three young children, were killed.

"It's very scary that this Republican supermajority has silenced us, has silenced our voters, for standing up," Mr Jones told BBC News.

"We were calling for action so we can stop our young people and stop our children from being murdered and massacred."

Mr Jones and Mr Pearson's absence from the House may be short-lived.

Special elections will be held to fill the seats of both expelled members, meaning Mr Jones and Mr Pearson will be able to run again and potentially return to their seats.

• What to know about the Tennessee expulsions

Until then, local councils can appoint temporary representatives to hold the position until a special election is held.

Most members of Nashville's Metro Council - the body responsible for appointing Mr Jones' replacement - have pledged to nominate Mr Jones as his former district's temporary representative. The council has called a vote for Monday afternoon.

Tennessee voters 'livid' over expulsions

By Chelsea Bailey

The removal of House Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both Democrats and both young black men, left nearly 150,000 Tennesseans without a voice in the statehouse.

Tennessee voters who spoke to BBC News said they felt "livid" and "disenfranchised" by the vote that led to the expulsion of their duly elected representatives.

Memphis Pastor J. Lawrence Turner said he used part of his Good Friday homily to express his anger that Rep. Justin Pearson, who was once a member of his congregation, had been expelled over his calls for gun control.

"I'm livid. I'm angry. They had a track record of speaking up on behalf of the marginalised and the voiceless," Mr Turner said. "It really is an awful display of what happens when power is wielded in a way to silence and dismiss people who should have a voice in our democracy."

And many of the voters who spoke to BBC News said it was hard to ignore the racial overtones of the decision to oust two young black lawmakers and spare Rep Gloria Johnson, who is white.

"It doesn't take Ray Charles to see that," joked Casio Montez, a Memphis resident and political activist. "It boils down to this, there's people that are sitting in the Capitol of Tennessee that have done way worse and still have their seat at the table."

Amber Sherman, the 28-year-old head of the Shelby County Young Democrats, took issue with the tone of the Republican lawmakers.   

"They were treating [Mr Pearson and Mr Jones] like they were a 'boy' who got out of place and they had to push them right back in," she said. 

Demonstrators have flooded the Tennessee capitol demanding gun reform in the days since a shooter opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville on 27 March, killing six people - including three children.

Last week, Mr Jones, 27, and Mr Pearson, 28, along with fellow Democrat Gloria Johnson, 60, walked to the front of the chamber in solidarity with protestors gathered in the House gallery. Ms Johnson stood alongside Mr Jones and Mr Pearson as they led chants from the lectern on the House floor through a bullhorn.

The actions enraged House Republicans, who soon brought a resolution on expulsion, saying the trio had brought "disorder and dishonour to the House". On Thursday, some Republican members said the Democrats' actions amounted to an insurrection, with House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, comparing the incident to the deadly assault on the US Capitol Building in Washington DC on 6 January 2020.

Embattled Democrats Justin Pearson, Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson stand outside the statehouse after the expulsion vote

"What they did today was equivalent, at least equivalent, maybe worse depending on how you look at it, to doing an insurrection in the Capitol," he said.

Ms Johnson was the only one of the trio to survive her expulsion vote, keeping her seat by just one ballot. Asked why she alone was not removed from her seat, Ms Johnson, who is white, told reporters "it might have to do with the colour of our skin". Mr Jones and Mr Pearson are both black.

The so-called Tennessee Three have brought nationwide attention to a state still reeling from last month's shooting.

On Thursday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called the expulsion vote "shocking" and "undemocratic".

Vice-President Kamala Harris arrived in Nashville on Thursday, where she met all three Democrats who faced expulsion votes. The visit came same day that President Joe Biden held a conference call with the three Democrats.

"Earlier today, I spoke to Reps. Jones, Pearson, and Johnson to thank them for their leadership and courage in the face of a blatant disregard of our nation's democratic values," President Biden said in a statement on Instagram. "Our country needs to take action on gun violence — and to do that we need more voices like theirs speaking out."