As we told you about earlier, the Tennessee GOP showed the rest of the nation's Republicans how it's done. Not only did they successfully pass new Congressional maps in the state, but they're also handling the state Democrats who behaved abhorrently in the wake of the redistricting vote. Those Democrats were all stripped of their committee assignments.
Now, state Rep. Justin Pearson is whining about how this disenfranchises Tennesseans from representation.
Speaker of the TN House Cameron Sexton just removed me and every Democrat — and therefore every Black elected official in the state legislature from any committee we served on.
— Justin J. Pearson (@Justinjpearson) May 12, 2026
This move strips nearly 2 million Tennesseans from the representation they deserve in TN state leg. https://t.co/IG1ka9yson
No, actually, it doesn't. The Democrats still get to vote on final bills. Perhaps Pearson and his colleagues should have thought through the consequences before they lost their minds.
Have you considered not calling a Tennessee State Trooper trying to restrain you a:
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) May 13, 2026
“Stupid motherf***er?”
…and then screaming in his face???? pic.twitter.com/KQYLp8rYbi
He has not.
— streiff (@streiffredstate) May 12, 2026
Sympathy was very limited for Pearson.
Have you considered behaving like an adult?
— 🫃🏼💉🇺🇦🇮🇷🇨🇺Hollaria Briden, Esq. (@HollyBriden) May 12, 2026
No.
If you were working in corporate America, you would have been fired from your job. Real grown-ups don’t behave that way at work. Shame on you. You are at best, juvenile, and at worst, savage.
— ElisaNYJM (@CaffMomREDACTED) May 13, 2026
Republicans in any legislature wouldn't be allowed to behave that way, either.
No, you removed yourself with YOUR own actions.
— AwakenedOutlaw⚒️ (@AwakenedOutlaw) May 13, 2026
But I can't say I'm surprised that you seek to blame someone other than yourself for your behavior. It's very on brand. https://t.co/nDOO42EJkT
It's what Democrats do best.
You betrayed your own constituents by disregarding civilized norms because you didn’t want to replace a white Democrat in Congress with a black Republican. https://t.co/WEG8NpIxG8
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 12, 2026
Democrats scream about norms, representation, and democracy. But only when it suits them and their agenda. They will eschew all norms and any semblance of democracy if it means disenfranchising Republican voters. Look at what they did in Virginia with the redistricting scheme that the Virginia Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional.
As our Matt Vespa said, this is how to handle such things: by not tolerating such nonsense and holding Democrats accountable for their behavior.