WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Nashville on Friday to meet with Democratic legislators, a day after Tennessee GOP lawmakers voted to oust two Black Democratic members who protested on the chamber floor against gun violence.
“Today, @VP will travel to Nashville, TN,” her press secretary, Kirsten Allen, announced on Twitter Friday morning. “There she will meet with state lawmakers as well as young leaders who continue to demand action on common sense gun reform.”
Allen shared a story by USA Today previewing the trip, which said that Harris plans to meet with the two expelled Black Democratic lawmakers, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.
Harris tweeted earlier Friday morning about the Republicans’ move to oust Jones and Pearson from Tennessee’s state House.
State legislators voted Thursday to expel Jones and Pearson while another vote to remove Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, failed.
The resolutions accused each of the Democratic legislators of engaging in “disorderly behavior” and purposely bringing “disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” during protests against gun violence on the House floor last week.
Following a shooting that left three children and three adults dead at The Covenant School in Nashville, the trio led supporters in calling for stricter gun safety measures. They used a bullhorn, which violated House chamber rules.
President Joe Biden said in a statement Thursday night that the expulsion of the two lawmakers who engaged in a peaceful protest was “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”
“Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee,” said Biden, who also reiterated his call on Congress to pass a new assault weapons ban.
Harris’ last-minute trip was not on her official White House schedule released Thursday night.
Kamala Harris to meet with expelled Democratic lawmakers in Nashville
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