Harris Visits Tennessee After Lawmakers Expelled Over Gun Protests

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with state lawmakers in Tennessee on Friday after two members of her Democratic party were expelled from the legislature for their actions alongside protesters pushing for stricter gun control laws after last month's deadly shooting at a Nashville school.

U.S. President Joe Biden separately spoke with the two lawmakers, along with a third who narrowly retained her seat, and invited them to the White House, praising the trio for "seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for our democratic values."

On Thursday, the Tennessee House of Representatives' Republican supermajority voted to remove Democratic Representatives Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, two young Black legislators whose districts are among the most diverse in the state, over demonstrations pushing for stricter gun laws.

The move to oust a third Democratic member, Gloria Johnson, a white woman who also protested on the House floor, failed by one vote.

The partisan battle in Nashville comes after three 9-year-old students and three adults were killed in a March 27 school shooting in the city, the latest high-profile mass shooting in the United States.

Like much of the country, Tennessee is also grappling with questions of political representation and changing demographics ahead of the 2024 presidential election that could see guns, along with abortion and democracy, as top issues.

"They understood the importance, these three, of standing to say the people will not be silenced," Harris said in remarks during her trip. Republicans should "have the courage to act instead of the cowardice to not allow debate and to not allow a discussion on the merits of what is at stake," she added.

Republicans said the three Democrats broke decorum by leading the demonstration in the well of the House floor, and deserved to be punished via expulsion instead of lesser forms of discipline, such as censure. Just two state lawmakers had previously been expelled since the U.S. Civil War.

On Thursday, Biden called the latest expulsions "shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent."

Harris echoed those sentiments in remarks at Fisk University, a historically Black school, and reiterated the administration's call for stronger background checks, red flag laws and an assault weapons ban.

Republicans have said the focus should instead be on mental health and more funding to boost school security.

Tennessee Representative Yusuf Hakeem, a Democrat, said Harris' visit showed "the White House is very interested and concerned in a meaningful way," adding that he does not expect protests to fade.

"What these young people are saying is if you are not listening to us... you are going against democracy, you are going against fair play," he told MSNBC.

Nearly 50 organizations, led by gun safety advocacy group the Newtown Action Alliance, called for nationwide student walkouts in solidarity with those in Tennessee.

Jones, in a separate interview on MSNBC on Friday, said it was unclear whether Republicans would block the two from rejoining the legislature if they were re-appointed.

The Nashville area's local council is scheduled to meet on Monday afternoon to select an interim representative. NBC News reported that at least 23 of 39 members had said they planned to vote to reinstate Jones. It was not immediately clear when Pearson's seat would be filled, although that county's commission has a Wednesday meeting scheduled.

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly's Black Caucus at a news conference on Friday said Republicans had sunk to new lows.

"It looked like a Jim Crow era," caucus vice chair and Democratic Representative Jesse Chism said.