Nashville vice mayor optimistic ousted lawmaker will be returned to Tennessee statehouse

Nashville Vice Mayor Jim Shulman said he thinks the Metropolitan Council will vote to send former state Rep. Justin Jones (D), one of the two lawmakers expelled by Republicans from the legislature over their gun control protests, back to the statehouse on Monday.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from people in Nashville, across the state of Tennessee and across the country that… these two gentlemen need to be sent back immediately to the Tennessee statehouse,” Shulman said Monday on CNN.

Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, a Democrat representing Memphis, were ejected from the legislature on a party-line vote over their protest on gun control following a shooting at a private school in Nashville that left three students and three adults dead.

The ouster of Jones and Pearson has garnered national attention, serving as a rallying cry for Democrats that have coalesced in support of the lawmakers. President Biden and Vice President Harris have both spoken with the pair.

The metro council, the city-county government of Nashville and Davidson County, is set to move to vote on reinstating Jones to the statehouse on Monday afternoon. Shulman said he was hopeful there would be no objections on the council to send Jones back to the legislature. 

At least 22 members of the 40-seat city council have tweeted to declare their support for reappointing Jones to his seat, denouncing the move from Republicans to oust him.

A vote to send Pearson, who represents a Memphis district, could come this week as well.

Pearson and Jones, both Black lawmakers, were ousted from the statehouse while a third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, a white woman, was spared from being expelled for her role in the protest.

Many have been quick to point to the vote to eject Pearson and Jones as racially motivated, a dynamic that Shulman said hoped “wasn’t the case.”

“I certainly hope that wasn’t the case,” Shulman said. “But it doesn’t look good on its face.”