State Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson win special elections, keep their seats in Tennessee House

Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) won their special elections Thursday and will once again be sworn in to serve in the state House of Representatives they were expelled from earlier this year.

Jones went up against Republican Laura Nelson, who received financial support from Tennessee Republicans but came up short by over 55 percentage points, as of 9:30 p.m. EST. Pearson ran against independent challenger Jeff Johnston, who was only able to secure 7% of the vote compared to Pearson’s 93%.

Voters first elected Jones to represent Tennessee’s 52^nd district in 2022, and he took office in January after running unopposed in the general election. Pearson ran in and won a Democratic primary in January for a special election to replace former state Rep. Barbara Cooper (D-Memphis), who died at the age of 93 in October.

While getting sworn in on Feb. 9, Pearson donned a traditional African robe called a dashiki. This garnered criticism from Republicans and a post from Tennessee House Republicans suggested Pearson should “explore different careers” if he didn’t want to wear a tie. Pearson said he was honoring his ancestors and there were no attire rules for the legislature.

Referencing the bipartisan and unanimously approved rules for House decorum and dress attire is far from a racist attack.

If you don’t like rules, perhaps you should explore a different career opportunity that’s main purpose is not creating them. https://t.co/UdPkk8WLCS

— TN House Republicans (@tnhousegop) February 9, 2023

Jones and Pearson were famously expelled from the Republican-controlled Tennessee legislature in April after protesting for gun reform on the House floor. The pair were joined by fellow Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson and dubbed the “Tennessee Three.” Although the vote to expel Johnson came up short, Republicans stripped her of her committee assignments (Jones and Pearson are Black, and Johnson is white). The trio advocated for gun reform after a shooter attacked Covenant Elementary School in Nashville and killed six people, including three children.

After Jones and Pearson were expelled, their local governments temporarily reinstated them; the Metropolitan Council of Nashville reappointed Jones, and the Shelby Board of Commissioners reappointed Pearson, both via unanimous votes. Because both men were appointed on an interim basis, they needed to run in special elections on Thursday to fully reclaim their seats.