Gloria Johnson, a Democratic state consultant from Tennessee who narrowly prevented being expelled from the Legislature in April after collaborating in a gun management protest on the statehouse ground, introduced plans on Tuesday to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican.
Ms. Johnson, 61, acquired a flood of nationwide consideration after she joined two different Democrats, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, to interrupt debate on the ground of the Republican-controlled Tennessee House of Representatives and rally for stricter gun management measures in late March, simply days after a taking pictures at a Christian faculty in Nashville that killed six folks.
In retribution, Republicans moved to expel the three Democrats — generally known as the Tennessee Three — from the Legislature. Mr. Jones and Mr. Pearson have been each ousted. Ms. Johnson was stripped of her committee assignments however prevented expulsion by only one vote. (Both males have been later voted again into their positions.)
Last week, the State Legislature held an emotional and chaotic particular session meant to be dedicated to public security that ended with out settlement on any important new restrictions on firearm entry.
In a video asserting her Senate marketing campaign, Ms. Johnson led with that concern, taking part in clips of news protection of the Nashville taking pictures and highlighting her involvement within the gun management protest.
“When my friends and I believed mothers and fathers who lost children at Covenant deserved a voice, and we fought for it, they expelled them,” she says within the video.
Ms. Johnson, who represents elements of Knoxville, was first elected to the Tennessee House in 2012, then misplaced subsequent elections in 2014 and 2016 earlier than once more profitable in 2018. For the 2024 Senate race, she is working in a contested Democratic major in opposition to Marquita Bradshaw, an environmental justice activist who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2020.
Both hope to unseat Ms. Blackburn, 71, who in 2018 turned the primary girl elected to characterize Tennessee within the Senate.
In her video, Ms. Johnson instructed that Ms. Blackburn was beholden to “extremists and billionaires,” criticizing her views on abortion.
Senator Blackburn’s marketing campaign spokeswoman, Abigail Sigler, accused Ms. Johnson in an announcement of being a “radical socialist” who “would be a puppet” for President Biden and progressive Democrats.
Source: www.nytimes.com