Play stupid games: Tennessee GOP makes Democrats pay a heavy price for childish tantrums over redistricting



Tennessee state Republicans passed a new congressional map last week that, applying the logic of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Callais ruling, carves up a Democrat-held district that was the product of a racial gerrymander. They managed to do so despite obstruction and gross incivility from their Democrat colleagues.

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, for instance, walked around the chamber blowing a bullhorn in the faces of lawmakers and subjecting them to potential noise-induced hearing loss. Jones — a Democrat who was caught on film throwing a traffic cone at a driver during a 2020 Black Lives Matter blockade — also set fire to a printout of the Confederate flag and repeatedly accused Republicans of racism.

'Maybe next year we’ll explain the basics like "don’t start fires in the Capitol."'

Democrat state Sen. Charlane Oliver — the radical who threatened riots in 2024 over the passage of a bill she didn't like — danced atop her desk in the chamber, yelling and holding up a banner that said, "No Jim Crow 2 Stop the Steal."

Some of the Democrats yelled and chanted while Republicans calmly conducted the work at hand, while another got testy with police, barraging a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper with insults while interfering with an arrest.

Evidently, actions still have consequences in the Volunteer State.

Republican Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton notified Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper on Tuesday that members of the Democratic Caucus should expect to receive individual letters removing them from all standing committees and subcommittees in the statehouse, "except where membership is required pursuant to Rule 65 of the House Rules."

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Madison Thorn/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Sexton cited as cause Democrats' actions "aimed at disrupting the democratic and legislative processes and creating disorder on the House Floor, including, but not limited to:

  • Interlocking arms in the well of the House;
  • Blocking aisles on the House Floor;
  • Instigating and encouraging disruptions of the legislative process in coordination with paid protestors and attendees in the gallery, including the distribution of earplugs to a member of your caucus;
  • The use of prohibited props and noisemakers on the House Floor;
  • Demonstrating a lack of respect toward fellow members seeking recognition to speak on legislation; and
  • Flagrant disregard for the Permanent Rules of Order of the House."

Rather than reflect on whether they went too far again or shouldn't bemoan the loss of a racial gerrymander, state Democrats condemned the committee-removal consequence, painted themselves as victims, and descended farther into lunacy.

Minority Leader Camper said in a long-winded, reality-averse statement that the passage of the new map "felt like being stabbed in the back, then having the knife pushed in deeper and turned to finish the job."

The minority leader then engaged in several paragraphs of what could only be described as partisan-hack numerology.

Camper, convinced there was a "symbolic scheme behind the handling of debate during this extraordinary session," said:

  • there were supposed to be 47 minutes of debate on each side, which was somehow "a clear nod to the 47th President";
  • the duration of the "debate allotments" when it came to the "debate structure surrounding changes to election law," when added up, would have "totaled 54 minutes — a nod to 1954, the year of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Decision"; and
  • the addition of 47 plus the time allotments also associated with the debate equals 74 — clearly a nod to 1974, the "year Harold Ford Sr. became the first Black member of Congress elected from Tennessee in the modern era."

In conclusion to her embarrassing numbers game, Camper suggested that her protest last week was ultimately aimed at ensuring that these numbers wouldn't add up — that there would instead be only 44 minutes of debate on the redistricting legislation in honor of the 44th president, Barack Obama.

"We are hurt. We are disappointed. But we are not intimidated," wrote Camper. "And no committee assignment will stop us from fighting for democracy, voting rights, constitutional freedoms, and the people of Tennessee."

State Rep. Justin Pearson — the Democrat who interfered with an arrest on Thursday and called a THP trooper "stupid motherf**ker" and "boy" — whined on X, "Speaker of the TN House Cameron Sexton just removed me and every Democrat — and therefore every Black elected official in the state legislature from any committee we served on. This move strips nearly 2 million Tennesseans from [sic] the representation they deserve in TN state leg."

The Tennessee House GOP said of the Democrats' responses, "Of course now they’re playing victim. Maybe next year we’ll explain the basics like 'don’t start fires in the Capitol.'"

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Tennessee Democrats turn legislature into madhouse after Republicans nuke 'black district' represented by white liberal



Tennessee Democrats' thin veneer of civility broke again, this time on Thursday amid state Republicans' successful efforts to pass a new congressional map.

Radical lawmakers not only attempted to obstruct the democratic process — screaming, dancing, blowing bullhorns at Republican legislators, and getting combative — but cosplayed as opponents of racial prejudice, barking lines popularized during the civil rights movement and working in real time to spin their party's likely diminution in power as the result of an imagined reversion to Jim Crow-style policies.

Quick background

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a hugely consequential 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais last week, striking down the Bayou State's 2024 congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and making clear that redistricting should effectively be color-blind.

'My brother ain’t doing nothing to nobody.'

Tennessee state Republicans wasted no time applying the logic of the high court's ruling in their back yard with the aim — according to Republican Gov. Bill Lee — of ensuring that the Volunteer State's congressional map "remains fair, legal, and defensible."

After its easy passage by the GOP supermajority in the legislature, Lee signed a new congressional map into law on Thursday that will likely enable Republicans to secure all nine U.S. House seats in Tennessee.

The new map divides up the supposedly black-majority, Memphis-based 9th Congressional District represented by white Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen into three districts and also splits Nashville into five districts.

Cohen called it an "egregious result."

The madhouse

As the Tennessee Senate voted on the map, Democrat state Sen. Charlane Oliver — the radical who threatened riots in 2024 over the passage of a bill she didn't like — danced atop her desk in the chamber, yelling and holding up a banner that said, "No Jim Crow 2 Stop the Steal."

Footage shared online by WTVF-TV's Chris Davis appears to show Oliver fighting with the Senate sergeant at arms over control of her banner. After losing control of her banner, Oliver proceeded to stomp and sing on her desk while her peers voted to pass the bill, reported the Nashville Banner.

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During the voting process in the state House on Thursday, Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones — a Democrat who has previously evidenced a willingness to violate the legislature's decorum rules and was caught on film throwing a traffic cone at a driver during a 2020 Black Lives Matter blockade — walked around blowing a bullhorn in the faces of lawmakers and staffers while holding up a sign that said, "We shall overcome."

Jones also set on fire a printout of the Confederate flag and repeatedly accused Republicans of racism, calling them the "white sheet caucus."

Rep. Justin Pearson (D), who like Jones was briefly expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2023 for staging a disruptive protest on the House floor, lashed out at members of law enforcement who were working feverishly to keep the peace.

After state House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) asked that the gallery be cleared, Tennessee Highway Patrol began ushering radicals out. Some, including Pearson's brother KeShaun, apparently refused to leave, reported WKRN-TV.

The prospect that his brother might face consequences for his actions evidently enraged Rep. Pearson, who yelled at THP troopers as they were executing their duties — calling one trooper a "stupid motherf**ker" and "boy" — and attempted to interfere with his brother's apparent arrest, which Pearson later suggested "is what white supremacy does."

"My brother ain’t doing nothing to nobody. Hey, hey, he’ll walk out by himself. Move the f**k back!" said Pearson.

THP Lt. Bill Miller told WKRN in a statement, "During today’s hearing, three individuals in attendance began disrupting the session of the House of Representatives. After repeated warnings, three individuals were taken into custody inside the gallery of the Capitol for suspected violation of TCA 39-17-306 (Disturbing an Official Meeting). The individuals were transported to the Davidson County jail for booking."

Democrats' theatrics were all for naught, as this is Tennessee's new congressional map:

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Biden invites 'Tennessee Three' to White House — but won't invite families of Covenant School massacre victims



President Joe Biden has invited the so-called Tennessee Three to the White House, but he is not inviting the families of the victims of the Covenant School massacre.

At the White House press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that Biden has invited Tennessee Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson to the White House. They will visit next Monday.

She explained:

Earlier this month, the president spoke to them by phone after they were subjugated to expulsion votes in the Tennessee state House for peacefully protesting in support of stronger gun safety laws following the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. During that call, the president thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons and standing up for the democratic values.

When it was his turn to ask a question, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy wanted to know: What about the families of the victims of the massacre?

"On Monday, you're going to have three of the lawmakers who protested—" he began before Jean-Pierre interrupted.

"Peacefully protested," she interjected.

"Who peacefully protested after the Nashville Covenant School shooting," Doocy continued. "Have any of the victims or their families been invited to the White House?"

"I don’t have anything to read out to you about any invite," the press secretary responded.

"Why?" Doocy pressed.

Jean-Pierre, however, could not provide an answer. Instead, she vaguely explained how Biden is "focused on getting things done" and plans to use his "bully pulpit" to continue pushing his agenda, which includes banning so-called assault weapons. Hosting the lawmakers at the White House, Jean-Pierre said, is about fostering a conversation to that end.

Despite being expelled from the Tennessee state House, both Pearson and Jones have since been reinstated by their districts.

Jones made headlines on Monday when he carried a baby-sized casket through the halls of the Tennessee Capitol to make a statement about gun violence and the need for more gun control.

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