The unthinkable occurred on the floor of our State Capitol. Two duly elected Democratic State Representatives were expelled from their elected positions by the Republican House majority. Their expulsions set a dangerous new precedent for political retribution. The day that a majority can simply expel a member of the opposing party without legitimate cause threatens the fabric of democracy in our state and creates a reckless roadmap for GOP controlled state legislatures across the nation. This is a complete breakdown of our political system.

The Coffee County Democratic Party condemns these anti-democratic votes, and we will continue to fight this radical, unprecedented decision until Justin Jones and Justin Pearson return to their rightful seats in the State House of Representatives–where the people sent them to serve.

In particular, the Coffee County Democratic Party further condemns the votes of Rep. Rush Bricken, who voted to keep Rep. Gloria Johnson, a sixty-year-old white woman, but to expel the two young African-American men.

Let’s be clear: Rep. Bricken’s votes contributed to and coincided with a deeply and overtly racist Republican Party–from promising retribution to Shelby County if their county commission chooses to reappoint Justin Pearson, to prohibiting teachers from telling the truth about this state’s history of racial discrimination, to gerrymandering districts across the state thereby limiting the voices of minority voters, to denying health care across the state in 2015 so that minorities would not have access to it, to pushing an unpopular school voucher program that enables affluent white families to send their children to private schools on the public’s dime, to the fact Tennessee took almost three decades to desegregate schools after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

It is oddly fitting that Rep. Bricken is from Tullahoma, given that the Coffee County Republican Party worked diligently to ouster two strong minority voices, replaced them with a strongly conservative Board of Aldermen who took action to further silence those two same voices, and made it more difficult for all Tullahomans to publicly voice their concerns to the board. Without question, minorities across the Tullahoma community believe that they have no one left to represent them. In fact, one of the Tullahoma Aldermen posed in front of a Confederate Flag and frequently makes overtly racist comments.

The Tennessee Republican Party has a history of inaction against white representatives who have brought dishonor to their respective chambers–Rep. David Byrd (allegations of) child molestation, former Speaker of the House Rep. Glen Casada who resigned as speaker in 2019 but held onto his seat after revelations that he had exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women years earlier, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver who attended the January 6^th insurrection and described the rioters as a “heck of a lot of patriots,” Sen. Joey Hensley who allegedly prescribed opioids to relatives including a second cousin with whom he had an affair,

Sen. Janice Bowling (also of Tullahoma) who pushes the lie that classrooms have litter boxes, and Rep. Scott DesJarlais who allegedly abused his wife and forced his mistress to have an abortion. It is clear that the Tennessee Republican Party ought not to throw stones from their glass house.

In an unprecedented, openly racist, and unconstitutional retaliation against two black legislators, the Tennessee Legislature lived up to its heritage as the birthplace of the KKK and expelled them for the color of their skin. What they did has nothing to do with decorum or House rules. It is a gross abuse of power in a country that was founded on the very basis of protest and disobedience. The TN Republican Party undermined democracy, but in the long run, the movement of love will always prevail. We welcome all who wish to join our movement.

Mike Stein

Coffee County Democratic Party

Manchester