AOC Slams GOP ‘Fascist Takeover of Our Statehouses’ After Tennessee Republicans Expel Democrats

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) says the expulsion of two Black legislators from the Tennessee House of Representatives was no accident.

“This is about the fascist takeover of our statehouses that Republicans have invested in in the last several decades,” she said on CNN Friday night.

The two representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, were expelled by a two-thirds majority vote for engaging in an anti-gun violence demonstration on the House floor last week. Both Jones and Pearson used a bullhorn to address the crowd. The protest was in response to the Covenant school shooting on March 27 that killed three children and three adults. Tennessee’s governor is pushing for more armed guards in classrooms instead of any sort of gun control.

This is about a naked abuse of power,” AOC told Anderson Cooper. “This is about disenfranchising Democrats in states where there is extreme levels of voter suppression, and it was also about racism. It was deeply about racism, from the comments the absolutely disrespectful and denigrating comments made to the Black members of the Tennessee House to the fact that they that these Republicans voted to expel, after charging three of these members, they expelled two Black male legislators and they voted to acquit in a way, or they voted to not expel the sole white woman, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who has been a phenomenal ally.”

GOP Rep. Bryan Richey told CNN that race was not a factor in the decision to expel the two Black lawmakers but not the White one. He said any conclusion to the contrary is “political nonsense.”

AOC sees it differently.

“There is no defense and we have not heard any rational explanation for why that is and it’s so important that we recognize this for what it is and that we see this for what it is, because if we do not, then we will not take the proper actions to stop it,” she said.