# Tennessee to Expel 3 Democrats (update: all back in office) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 4, 2023, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128 "2023-04-04T12:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/181 "2023-04-13T22:39:54Z")
Some good may yet come out of this, other than making Tennessee’s legislature look like morons. > **[Tennessee GOP governor signs executive order strengthening background checks](https://news.yahoo.com/tennessee-gop-governor-signs-executive-025221918.html)** > > Gov. Bill Lee signed an executive order designed to strengthen background checks, and called on the Legislature to pass the equivalent of a red flag law. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/182 "2023-04-13T23:40:20Z")
One of his good friends got shot. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/183 "2023-04-13T23:43:23Z")
I believe that was the governor of Kentucky at the bank shooting a few days later. > **[Kentucky governor grieves close friend killed in Louisville shooting](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/10/louisville-shooting-kentucky-govenor/)** > > Gov. Andy Beshear was forced to do double duty after the country's latest mass shooting, comforting families of those lost while processing his personal pain. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/184 "2023-04-14T00:33:34Z")
Interesting. It seems to have been both of them. > **['Tragedy beyond comprehension': Gov. Bill Lee, first lady close friends with...](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/28/tennessee-gov-bill-lee-releases-video-message-on-nashville-school-shooting/70058141007/)** > > Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee released a video address Tuesday night, his most extended comment yet on the Covenant School shooting. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/185 "2023-04-14T01:49:47Z")
Republicans: They don’t care until it happens to them. See also: Nancy Reagan and Alzheimer’s research; Bush II and LGBT rights. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/186 "2023-04-14T13:47:37Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Republicans: They don’t care until it happens to them. and sometimes not even then. See: Steve Scalise. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/187 "2023-04-14T18:56:08Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > I get that the right says that (and I listened to the audio), and I accept that a lot of people actually believe it, but I truly and honestly don’t understand how they can think that way. > > They’re objectively wrong that it’d be “game over for the republic”. Except that what they really mean (whether entirely consciously or not) by “the republic” is “the Republican-dominated, default-white, traditional-privilege-and-power-perpetuating society that I and people like me equate with America”. That’s why so many Republicans are so insistent about claiming that the US is a republic “rather than” a democracy. It’s not based on differing views about the structural details of governance systems, according to which the US is unambiguously both a republic and a democracy anyway. It’s based on their emotional associations of the term “republic” with “what Republicans want America to be” and “democracy” with “what Democrats want America to be”. And by those definitions, as Chronos and others have suggested, Republicans are not at all wrong or delusional in their perception that their “republic” is being lost. White Americans are much less demographically, culturally and politically dominant than they used to be, and rigidly male-dominated cisheteronormativity is much less universal. These changes are real. Where the Republicans are delusional is in imagining that they can do anything to effectively reverse such trends long-term. Even if they go full-on dictatorship and authoritarian suppression, they would not be able to hold themselves together in control of their “taken-back” right-wing Christian America for longer than a few short and very bloody years. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/188 "2023-04-15T02:47:43Z")
/hijack Did you change your pic? I know it was a cat before, but this looks like a different one /hijack ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/189 "2023-04-15T02:55:39Z")
No, I’ve had this one for quite a while. Maybe someday I’ll change it. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/190 "2023-04-15T02:56:36Z")
Oh no, don’t change, it is an excellent pic. I am sure I was thinking about some other almost as fabulous kitty pic! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/191 "2023-04-15T03:04:20Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > they would not be able to hold themselves together in control of their “taken-back” right-wing Christian America for longer than a few short and very bloody years. What they are imagining and hoping for is a theocratic version of Nort Korea writ large, lasting for generations. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/192 "2023-04-20T21:35:22Z")
Tennessee GOP leader resigns. > ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/193 "2023-04-20T21:44:44Z")
Was there really this much blowback? I didn’t think that possible. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/194 "2023-04-20T21:50:16Z")
That’s not the reason. > **[He Voted to Expel the Tennessee Three—After He Sexually Harassed an Intern](https://www.thedailybeast.com/tennessee-gop-rep-scotty-campbell-resigns-after-sexually-harassing-intern)** > > Rep. Scotty Campbell only resigned on Thursday, three weeks after a secret ethics subcommittee found him guilty. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/195 "2023-04-20T21:54:39Z")
Ok. An explanation that conforms to expectations, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/196 "2023-04-20T22:11:45Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Was there really this much blowback? I didn’t think that possible. Only after the press found out. Before that, everyone was happy to just keep the harassment information in his personnel file. (and pay off the victim) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/197 "2023-04-22T17:51:40Z")
The GOP leader who vote to expel all 3; resigned in disgrace for unrelated reason. > **[GOP leader, who voted to expel 'Tennessee Three,' resigns following report of...](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/04/21/us/tennessee-house-rep-scotty-campbell-resigns/index.html)** > > Tennessee House Representative Scotty Campbell resigned from his seat Thursday following a report that he violated the General Assembly policy on workplace discrimination and harassment, according to a subcommittee's memorandum and a copy of the... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/198 "2023-04-22T18:16:07Z")
How to say “I’m not caught up on this thread” without saying “I’m not caught up on this thread”… ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/199 "2023-08-04T02:34:56Z")
Pearson and Jones, who had already been reappointed to their seats on an interim basis, won the special elections to fully retake their seats in the Legislature. > **[Both expelled members of ‘Tennessee Three’ win back their state House seats](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/03/tennessee-three-reinstated-pearson-jones-00109805)** > > The young Black lawmakers were reinstated by local officials after being booted from the GOP-dominated Statehouse, but only on an interim basis. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128/200 "2023-08-04T15:52:31Z")
From that Politico article: > The two raised more than $2 million combined through about 70,400 campaign donations from across the country. The amount is well beyond the norm for Tennessee’s Republican legislative leaders and virtually unheard of for two freshman Democrats in a superminority. [obi-wan] If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.[/obi-wan] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-to-expel-3-democrats-update-all-back-in-office/982128.md?page=11)