Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) announced Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers will be removed from all current House standing committee and subcommittee assignments following disruptions to last week’s special legislative session on congressional redistricting.
The disciplinary action comes after the Tennessee General Assembly approved a new congressional redistricting plan expected to produce a 9-0 Republican congressional delegation. Governor Bill Lee has since signed the map into law.
During the three-day legislative session, chaos erupted inside the Tennessee Capitol as Democratic lawmakers and protesters staged loud demonstrations against the proposed redistricting maps.
Videos from the House floor showed tense confrontations, including Democratic legislators walking out in protest while demonstrators and Democratic members using whistles and air horns to disrupt proceedings. State troopers were forced to remove several protesters from the gallery as disruptions intensified.
In a letter sent to House Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis), Sexton accused members of the Democratic caucus of attempting to “disrupt the democratic and legislative processes and create disorder on the House Floor” during the Second Extraordinary Session of the 114th General Assembly.
As detailed below, Democrats made this decision with their dangerous, foolish and reckless behavior. https://t.co/oxYCfIJ2uo
— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) May 12, 2026
Sexton said Democratic members engaged in conduct including “interlocking arms in the well of the House,” “blocking aisles on the House Floor,” and coordinating with protesters in the gallery to interrupt proceedings through the use of noisemakers and prohibited props.
He further said Democratic caucus members encouraged disruptions “in coordination with paid protestors and attendees in the gallery,” and cited what he described as a “flagrant disregard for the Permanent Rules of Order of the House.”
“As a result,” Sexton wrote, “Members of the Democratic Caucus will receive individual letters removing them from all standing committees and subcommittees of the House, except where membership is required pursuant to Rule 65 of the House Rules.”
Rule 65 governs the structure of Tennessee House standing committees and includes provisions requiring minority party representation on certain panels, including the influential Calendar and Rules Committee and Government Operations Committee.
Under the rule, the House Minority Leader or a designee and the Minority Caucus Chair maintain guaranteed membership on specific committees regardless of broader assignments.
Sexton’s disciplinary action comes days after he called the demonstrations seeking to disrupt the redistricting vote “a zoo” and said members involved in such disruptions would “face the consequences.”
Deputy House Speaker Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) supported Sexton’s action, writing on social media, “Democrats made this decision with their dangerous, foolish and reckless behavior.”
State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) was quick to condemn Sexton’s move in a social media post, writing that the speaker had removed “every Democrat — and therefore every Black elected official in the state legislature from any committee we served on.”
However, Sexton’s action specifically applies to Democratic members of the Tennessee House, not the entire General Assembly, and Rule 65 still preserves certain minority-party committee assignments.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X.
Stop calling Democrats Democratic!!!!!! It is not the Democratic Party!!!!!!! It is the Democrat Party!!!! There is NOTHING democratic about a Democrat!!!!!!!