Rep Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, two Black Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled by Republicans after protesting in the assembly chamber, have won special elections for their seats. Both men will now be able to serve out the remainder of his original term. Their victories fully reverses the expulsion, which quickly turned into an embarrassing situation for Tennessee Republicans.

As Blavity previously reported, Jones and Pearson, two young Black lawmakers, were expelled by the Tennessee House of Representatives after leading a protest for gun reform within the chamber of the state legislature. The vote broke along party lines, with most of the legislature’s Republicans voting to remove the two while Democrats supported them and criticized the move as unfair. The vote to expel also had a notably racist character to it, as a third Democratic lawmaker – a white woman – was not expelled despite participating in the same protest.

The situation led to Tennessee Republicans being widely condemned as engaging in racist and fascist tactics, and the incident propelled Jones and Pearson to national prominence. Although both men were reappointed to their seats by their districts on a temporary basis, they each had to engage in a special election to win back the remainder of their terms. The two men easily won their seats back. Jones won nearly 80% of votes against a Republican challenger, while Pearson was reelected with over 90% oof the vote in his district.

Jones and Pearson took the opportunity of their victories to thank their supporters, chide their political opponents, and set an agenda for the future. In a message to supporters after his victory was announced, Jones thanked “people power” for easily winning the election. “They messed around; now they gotta find out,” Jones said of the Republicans who opposed him. “Their attacks on democracy will not Jones pledged to “build a multi-racial, multi-generational movement to transform this state and move this state forward.”

Pearson posted a message on the social media platform X, tagging the Tennessee GOP and telling them “You can’t expel a Movement! You can’t expel Hope!”

With the Tennessee government still firmly in Republican hands, Jones and Pearson will have their work cut out for them as they attempt to grow the movement that they represent. But the high profile that both men have achieved as a result of their ordeal has amplified their message and ironically given them greater influence than they had before.

POLITICSRep. Justin JonesRep. Justin PearsonTennessee