'Tennessee Three' to visit White House, meet with President Biden

The "Tennessee Three" are going to the White House.

Tennessee Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson will visit with President Joe Biden on Monday, Press Secretary Jean-Pierre said during a briefing Wednesday.

The representatives were skyrocketed into the national eye when they led a gun-reform protest from the chamber's floor days after three students and three staff members at Covenant School were gunned down.

In the days after the protest, House GOP leaders moved to expel the three for breaking decorum rules, an unprecedented act. Republicans insisted expulsion, the most extreme sanction available, was the right move to protect the integrity of the House and its rules.

After hours of passionate debate, the House expelled Jones, D-Nashville, and Pearson, D-Memphis. Johnson, D-Knoxville, survived the expulsion by one vote.

More: How Tennessee lawmakers voted in Thursday's House expulsion debate

In a highly calculated, stressful set of logisitics, the Metro Council called two back-to-back special meetings the day the House was to return to session. In less than an hour, the Council nominated Jones back to his seat and voted him in on an interim basis. They then adjourned, took a recess and then gaveled back in to approve the minutes of the previous special-called meeting.

The paperwork was rushed up to the Capitol, where Jones was sworn back in to return to the House floor.

Pearson was similarly re-appointed to his seat by the Shelby County Commission.

Both men will have to run in a special-set primary and general election to remain in the seat. The Davidson County and Shelby County primaries will be Thursday, June 15. The general elections will be Aug. 3.

This won't be the first brush the three will have with the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit to Nashville earlier this month and met with the lawmakers at Fisk University during a community event at Memorial Chapel.

Biden previously spoke with the three on a conference call, thanking them for spotlighting what he called undemocratic and unprecedented attacks on them.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Three lawmakers to visit White House, meet President Biden