This week's heroes are the 3 lawmakers in Tennessee who stood up against the conservatives that rule the Tennessee legislature over gun control: TN state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black millennial freshmen, and Gloria Johnson. Jones and Pearson were kicked out, while Johnson remained. After the school mass shooting in Nashville, these 3 lawmakers called for gun control and had to use bullhorns because the Republican Speaker of the house turned off their microphones. The Republican majority do not want any gun control or gun safety. Here's the update from April 12, 2023:
Tennessee Republicans may have just handed a lifeline to Democrats
Outrage over the ouster of two Democratic lawmakers has supercharged party organizing in a Republican stronghold.
By LIZ CRAMPTON , 04/12/2023 12:09 PM EDT, Politico
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Democrats can’t believe the moment they’re in.
On the day that state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black millennial freshmen, were kicked out of the Legislature, 33,000 people called into the state party office looking to get involved, Democratic Party Chair Hendrell Remus said.
So far, nearly 10,000 have signed up to volunteer, he said in an interview, and hundreds of people have expressed interest in running for office — many in districts where Republican lawmakers ran unopposed in the midterms. More than half of Republican lawmakers serving in the statehouse today were uncontested in November.
An emotional, weeks-long confrontation in the state Legislature has thrust Nashville onto the national political scene and put the southern city at the center of a debate about race, activism and gun violence.
While Republicans intended their ouster of two progressive lawmakers last week to be a punishment, the move has turned into one of the Democratic Party’s best chances in years to boost their organization in the South. Democrats are dreaming up ways to claw back some power from the GOP, fueled by an influx of out-of-state dollars and new commitments from Tennesseans to get involved with politics.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we have to take advantage of,” state Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat who represents parts of Memphis, said in an interview.
A blue turnaround in Tennessee seemed like a pipe dream just a few weeks ago — and maybe still does. Democrats are outnumbered, out-resourced and hamstrung by a legislative map drawn to favor Republicans. It’s also a state that suffers from one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country.
Party insiders and organizers are the first to concede just how bad they have it.
“Nothing changes the fact that these districts are highly gerrymandered,” said Lisa Quigley, a former chief of staff to Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat who didn’t seek reelection after his district was effectively eliminated in redistricting last year. “It’s going to take some really smart organizing all over the state, because none of us vote very well.”
But if there was ever a moment when the party stood a chance, it’s now. The state Democratic Party has been flooded with donations and interest since the GOP started moving against three Democrats for participating in a gun safety protest on the state House floor, and ultimately expelling two of them last week for violating decorum rules. Their stunt angered Republicans who wanted to see them promptly punished, invoking a rare removal process marked by its partisanship and accusations of racism.
Most Republicans have avoided commenting on the spectacle outside of last week’s removal proceedings, where they admonished the Democrats for disrupting the process.
FULL STORY:
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/12/tennessee-democrats-justin-jones-pearson-00091631?utm_source=cordial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hp-us-reg-morning-email_2023-04-13&utm_term=us-morning-email
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