The Republican coup did not work. A second black elected official from Tennessee, expelled for having demonstrated in the local parliament in favor of better supervision of firearms, will temporarily regain his seat after a vote on Wednesday.
Last Thursday, Justin Pearson, an elected Democrat, was expelled from the assembly, like another of his colleagues, also African-American, for having joined hundreds of demonstrators in the parliament building a week earlier. They were calling for stricter gun regulations after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville.
The two elected will be able to represent themselves
A vote in Memphis on Wednesday afternoon temporarily reappointed Justin Pearson to his post, ahead of a special election. Two days earlier, a similar procedure had given the opportunity to the other elected, Justin Jones, to regain his seat in Nashville.
The exclusion of these two men had plunged America into a fierce political battle, between debate on weapons and accusations of racism.
Especially since a third elected Democrat, Gloria Johnson, white and threatened with exclusion for the same reasons, had managed to keep her seat, fueling accusations of racism. President Joe Biden had stepped up to the plate, inviting the three elected officials to the White House as a gesture of solidarity.
Justin Jones and Justin Pearson will be able to stand again in the special elections which will be organized before the end of the year, and they should be the favorites in these districts which lean on the Democratic side.