Cameron Sexton resignation petition receives more than 12,000 signatures amid rising dissent 

Cameron Sexton, the Tennessee House Speaker, received major backlash as he organized a vote to expel two Democrat lawmakers from the house. The expulsion of the Democrat lawmakers —Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson took place last week. This came after they supported a youth-led protest calling for gun control following the shooting at a Nashville elementary school last month that left three students and three adults dead.

Soon after the expulsion, a number of individuals launched an online petition in which they demanded the resignation of Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton. Besides this, Tennessee Republican lawmaker Cameron has also been accused of racism as the party expelled both black Democratic lawmakers - Jones and Pearson.

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Online petition demanding the resignation of Cameron Sexton aims to collect 15,000 signatures

The online petition demanding the resignation of Cameron Sexton was launched on April 12, 2023, and is aiming for 15,000 signatures. As of this article's writing, it has managed to get 12,354 signatures.

Online petition demanding the resignation of Sexton (Image via snip from act.faithfulamerica.org)

The petition stated:

"Republican Speaker Cameron Sexton falsely accused Democrat lawmakers of insurrection -- an outright lie to undermine democracy, silence his Black and progressive opponents, and distract from demands for gun reform."

It was further mentioned that Sexton should resign for his attacks on democracy as it continued:

"Pro-democracy Christians across the country are appalled by the authoritarian actions of Tennessee Speaker Cameron Sexton and the Tennessee House Republican Caucus. The hasty expulsion of two Black men from the chamber for non-violent action is an attack on democracy, a blatant abuse of power, and an embrace of white supremacy. It is also an obvious attempt to distract citizens from the desperate need for new gun-reform laws."

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Councilwoman Delishia Porterfield said that when their representative was expelled, it was an assault on democracy

Nashville leaders were also agitated by Sexton's move, and Councilwoman Delishia Porterfield said:

"We witnessed a miscarriage of justice and an egregious assault on our democracy which resulted in over 70,000 Davidson County voters, our voters, being silenced when our representative was expelled. The most important message is that we’re going to protect democracy at all costs. We’re not going to back down from that."

She concluded by saying that she wants to send a message of civility and there's no reason why we can't fight for what's right.

Notably, Porterfield was Jones’ former political opponent.

It is important to note that after being expelled, Joe was reinstated on Monday, April 10, 2023, as Nashville's governing council voted that he should be sent back to the Legislature. The reinstation took place four days after the Republicans expelled him from his seat. Justin Pearson was also reinstated back to the governing council on Thursday, April 13, 2023.