A spokesperson for House Speaker Cameron Sexton said he’d go along with the council if they chose to send Jones back.
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
In an unanimous vote and a rebuke of Tennessee Republicans, the Nashville Metropolitan Council on Monday voted to reappoint Justin Jones to the state House of Representatives.
Jones returns as an interim representative and will again act on behalf of House District 52.
The 36-0 vote came after the council suspended its rule that disallowed an individual from being nominated and appointed to the seat in the same meeting.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Cameron Sexton said he’d go along with the council if they chose to send Jones back. He also indicated that he’d also welcome back Justin Pearson if Memphis officials voted later this week to return him to the House.
“The two governing bodies will make the decision as to who they want to appoint to these seats,” the Speaker said in a statement. “Those two individuals will be seated as representatives as the constitution requires.”
The Shelby County commission expects to take up a motion to return Pearson on Wednesday.
The expulsion of the two Democrats, who vociferously called on their colleagues to act on gun control after the latest school shooting in Nashville that claimed the lives of three elementary school students and three adults.
The reinstatement of Jones comes on the same day a gunman in Kentucky, believed to be a disgruntled ex-employee, killed five people at a bank in Louisville.
It’s the latest in a string of mass shootings that have rocked the nation in recent years, with gun violence continuing to be a divisive and contentious issue.
Some politicians and interest groups have pushed back against calls for stricter gun control. They say that doing so would violate their rights under the Second Amendment.
As the nation mourns the victims of the Louisville shooting and grapples with the ongoing…
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