State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) explained he is actively campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris because she “fought” for him and other controversially anti-gun members of the Tennessee House of Representatives during a visit to Nashville last year.
Both Pearson and Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) were expelled from the General Assembly for their role in an anti-gun riot at the Tennessee Capitol in the wake of the Covenant School shooting last year, while Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) avoided expulsion.
Pearson was quickly returned on an interim basis by the Shelby County Commission, and later won the seat a second time during a special election, but Harris nonetheless said their willingness to be expelled was courageous during a speech at 2023 Fisk University speech in support of gun control and the Tennessee Three.
“They chose to lead and show courage to say that a democracy allows for places where the people’s voice will be heard and honored and respected,” said Harris during the 2023 event.
Harris later held Pearson, Jones, and Johnson as ideal politicians. After noting her support for tighter gun laws, the vice president added, “The issue, which gets back to these three, is that we need leaders who have the courage to act at state houses and in Washington, D.C., in the United States Congress.”
The vice president’s speech in Nashville apparently left an impact on Pearson, who told African-American news, opinion, culture, and entertainment website TheGrio it was, “one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard her give.”
Pearson told the outlet, “It showed the issues of democracy, the abuse of autocracy and the misuse of power by our colleagues was wrong and dangerous.”
Explaining his decision to travel the country with the Harris campaign, he later said the vice president, “came and fought for us in Tennessee, and so I’m happy to go fight for her.”
The mutual admiration between Tennessee Three members and the vice president have continued through the presidential campaign, with Harris recently telling progressive social media news company NowThis Impact that Jones would have a seat at her ideal dinner party.
“You know who I saw recently, who I just love, but he’s one of two, the Justins from Tennessee,” said Harris. “They refused to be silenced, and they were both in the state capitol, and they were speaking up about gun violence. And then the other legislators tried to shut them down.”
The mutual admiration between the Tennessee Democrats and Harris has apparently led them to join her coterie of campaign surrogates, as TheGrio reported Pearson is traveling the country to stump for Harris, while “Jones is also a surrogate for the campaign.”
Despite the introduction of new rules to discourage disruption in the Tennessee House, both Jones and Pearson joined protesters in a confrontation with state troopers in April.
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.
Image “Justin Pearson” by Justin Pearson and “Kamala Harris” is by Kamala Harris.