Lessons Rep. Justin J. Pearson of Tennessee Three learned from his expulsion and comeback
Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, remains hopeful about the Volunteer State even as he asserts that the Tennessee General Assembly is the most toxic work environment he has ever experienced in his life.
Pearson, 29, was sent by District 86 voters to the legislature in a January 2023 election following the death of incumbent Rep. Barbara Cooper.
Fewer than three months later, most of his Republican colleagues in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives voted to expel him, Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, collectively known as the Tennessee Three, for protesting in the well of the chamber’s floor to demand firearms safety reform. Johnson barely survived the vote, but the two Justins were ejected.
Days later, county commissions sent them back and both won special and general elections in the months to come.
The Tennessee Three were invited to the White House and to appear on national news interview programs.
Pearson seeks common ground, not compromise
Pearson is my guest on this episode (No. 408) of the Tennessee Voices video podcast, a show I have hosted since March 2020 and which has produced more than 400 interviews with leaders, thinkers and doers, discussing relevant issues and modeling civil discourse.
We talked about how that expulsion experience marked him and what he has learned.
Pearson talked about how he no longer seeks compromise, but he is willing to find common ground. He added that he is dedicated to a philosophy of “justice with love” that embraces a Tennessee that welcomes people of diverse backgrounds.
He discussed why he told his Republican colleagues that “hurt people hurt people” when they worked to expel him.
The lawmaker also spoke about his experience prior to the legislature as an activist for environmental justice, fighting against the Byhalia pipeline and criticizing the Tennessee Valley Authority for its energy policies.
He recently wrote guest opinion columns for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee.
Tennessee Valley Authority should stop relying on fossil fuels and go 100% clean energy (The Commercial Appeal)
Advice to the youth: Politics is not a short-term pursuit
Pearson told me he hopes the “resisters” to overbearing state authority never leave Tennessee.
His advice to young people looking to get into politics is that the work is long-term beyond just one election cycle.
Watch the video above for our full conversation and you can catch past episodes of the Tennessee Voices show here.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at [email protected] or find him on X at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Three: Justin J. Pearson learned from expulsion and comeback