Rep. Justin B. Jones
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for District 52
Justin Shea Bautista-Jones (born August 25, 1995) is an American activist and politician from the state of Tennessee. He is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for District 52, representing parts of Nashville. Jones served from January 2023 until April 6, 2023, when he was expelled for participating in a gun control protest inside the state capitol in a manner that Republicans said was “disorderly behavior”. On April 10, 2023, the Nashville Metropolitan Council voted unanimously to reinstate Jones to serve as an interim representative pending a special election to fill the seat.
Career
In 2019, Jones announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Tennessee’s 5th congressional district against Jim Cooper in the 2020 elections. He did not submit enough valid signatures to make the ballot.
Tennessee House of Representative
2022 election
In 2022, Jones ran to succeed State Representative Mike Stewart as the member of the Tennessee House for the 52nd district. Jones defeated Delishia Porterfield, a member of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County, in the Democratic Party primary election. He won the general election without opposition.
Protest and expulsion
Main article: 2023 Tennessee House of Representatives expulsions
After the March 2023 mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Jones joined a protest alongside Gloria Johnson and Justin J. Pearson for gun control reform that disrupted House proceedings at the state capitol. He was removed from his committees as a result. Jones, Johnson and Pearson became known as “The Tennessee Three”.
The Tennessee House voted on April 6, 2023, to expel Jones, alongside Pearson, who are both Black. Johnson, who is white, survived the vote. Johnson cited her race as the reason she was not expelled, while Republican members noted that she did not take the protest as far as Jones and Pearson. The resolution, HR 65, was sponsored by Bud Hulsey and co-sponsored by Gino Bulso, Andrew Farmer, and Johnny Garrett; it passed with a vote of 72–25.
The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County set a meeting to discuss an interim appointment to the vacant District 52 on April 10. Jones was appointed interim representative to his former seat by a unanimous vote of 36–0.
On April 24, 2023, Jones, alongside the two other expelled lawmakers, were received by President Joe Biden at the White House. [Wikepedia]
