Metro Council pushes to reappoint Justin Jones

The job of appointing a replacement to ousted state Rep. Justin Jones falls to the Metro Council, where support is building to reinstate the freshman lawmaker immediately.

What's happening: Vice Mayor Jim Shulman called a special meeting for 4:30pm Monday to take the legally required step of announcing the vacancy. Jones was expelled by the Republican supermajority for his part in an anti-gun protest on the House floor.

• More than half of the council supports sending Jones back to his old seat, The Tennessean reports.

Yes, but: Bureaucracy stands in the way. Council rules require a four-week waiting period to consider an interim replacement. That means council will have to suspend its own rules in order to call for an immediate vote.

• It only takes two council members' objections to prevent that from happening.

State of play: Mayor John Cooper supports sending Jones back to the House, and his administration has been working with council members to ensure there are no objections.

• The Democrats who represent Nashville in the legislature signed onto a letter over the weekend asking council to reappoint Jones.

Zoom out: The historic vote comes amid mounting scrutiny on House Republicans for removing Democrats Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson. A resolution to remove the other member of the Tennessee Three, Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, failed by a single vote.

• Jones and Pearson are Black and Johnson is white. Johnson and others have said race was a factor in the expulsions, a charge Speaker Cameron Sexton denies.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville on Friday to meet with the three lawmakers and push for gun control laws. Protests have encircled the capitol since the massacre at The Covenant School.

• "They chose to lead and show courage," Harris said of Jones, Pearson and Johnson.

• "It wasn't about the three of these leaders. It was about who they were representing. It's about whose voices they were channeling," Harris said. "They understood that the voices must be heard."

What we're watching: Politicians from both sides immediately turned the expulsions of Jones and Pearson into a fundraising campaign.

• U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, tweeted a fundraising link to his one million followers last week. "The Republicans can kick them out, but they can't stop them from running in the special election," Murphy said.
• Similarly, state Republicans launched a fundraising campaign in advance of the 2024 election. "Actions have consequences, and we applaud House Republicans for having the conviction to protect the rules," the state GOP said in its fundraising message.

The Shelby County Commission will meet Wednesday to consider reappointing Pearson.