The Tennessee GOP Is Trying to Wipe out the Opposition

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, Tennessee Republicans are going scorched earth against their Democratic colleagues.

Last week, Tennessee Democrats were kicked out of a meeting room while protesting the Tennessee GOP’s brazen attempt to gerrymander the state map and eliminate the legislature’s only Democratic representative—while carving up the majority-Black Memphis-area district he represents in the process. Now those same Democrats have been removed from every single committee assignment they held as further punishment.

On Tuesday, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton wrote in a letter that “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.” He justified this blanket censure by referring to their protest, stating that the Democrats “aimed at disrupting the democratic and legislative processes and creating disorder on the House Floor.”

The GOP is responding to Democrats protesting being wiped off the map by ripping away the last bit of representative power they had, all while scolding them for “instigating and encouraging disruptions … in coordination with paid protestors and attendees,” and using “prohibited props and noisemakers on the House Floor.”

“Speaker of the TN House Cameron Sexton just removed me and every Democrat—and therefore every Black elected official in the state legislature from any committee we served on,” said Representative Justin Pearson, who was at the forefront of last week’s protests. “This move strips nearly 2 million Tennesseans from the representation they deserve in TN state [legislature].

“I just got an official letter from Speaker Cameron Sexton stripping me of all my committee assignments for protesting their white supremacist agenda.… Just as my white Republican colleagues chose racial retaliation against Tennessee’s Black voters, the Speaker of the House is now choosing retaliation against a Black lawmaker for standing up against their Jim Crow racial gerrymander,” Representative Justin Jones wrote. “His assault on our democracy is not about me, but silencing the voices of the people who democratically elected me, the 70,000 people who call District 52 home.

“For refusing to play along, Democrats are now being removed from committees.… The real disorder is not passionate dissent on behalf of Tennesseans whose voices are being silenced,” House Minority Leader Karen Camper said. “The real disorder is a legislature that increasingly believes rules only apply when convenient and democracy only works when they get the outcome they want.”

Multiple groups have begun legal action against the newly drawn Tennessee map.

MAGA Rep. Flees When Asked About Jeffries’s “Cotton-Picking Hands”

Representative Jen Kiggans agreed when a radio host made the wildly racist remark about House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Representative Jen Kiggans won’t explain why she agreed with racist comments about House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The Virginia Republican was completely mum Tuesday as MeidasTouch asked several point-blank questions related to her recent endorsement of a radio host saying Jeffries had “cotton-picking hands.”

“Representative, do you have anything more to say after agreeing with racist comments made by a radio host?” asked the reporter.

In another exchange, the MeidasTouch reporter asked if Kiggans would resign for agreeing with those comments, and the Republican briskly walked away.

Reporter: Do you have any more to say after agreeing with racist comments made by a radio host?Kiggans:Reporter: Will you resign for agreeing with those comments?Kiggans: pic.twitter.com/fc3F5fMJfE— Acyn (@Acyn) May 13, 2026

Reporter: Do you have any more to say after agreeing with racist comments made by a radio host?Kiggans:Reporter: Will you resign for agreeing with those comments?Kiggans: pic.twitter.com/fc3F5fMJfE

Kiggans has faced immense blowback since she appeared on Richmond-based radio commentator Rich Herrera’s show Monday to discuss the state’s hotly contested congressional maps. The since-deleted interview flew off the rails when Kiggans emphatically concurred with Herrera after he referred to Jeffries as a slave.

“He spent $20 million-plus on our redistricting debacle we had. He now is talking about ... firing our Supreme Court justices,” Herrera said of Jeffries. House Majority Forward, a nonprofit connected to Jeffries, spent roughly $40 million on the redistricting effort.

“If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics, then I suggest he ... leave New York, move down here to Virginia, run for office down here, you can represent us,” Herrera continued. “If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”

“That’s right. Ditto. Yes. Yes, to that,” Kiggans replied.

The term “cotton-picking hands” is heavily rooted in the history of U.S. slavery, literally referring to the Black men, women, and children who were forced to pick cotton.

Kiggans is up for reelection in November. One of her opponents in the race, former Representative Elaine Luria, wrote Monday evening that “the racist comments proudly endorsed today by Jen Kiggans ... are disgusting and beneath any elected official.”

In a statement on X Monday night, Kiggans claimed that she did not agree with the host’s remark and that it was “obvious” she was responding to the larger argument about Jeffries’s involvement in the redistricting effort. She argued that the nationwide political rebuke was “precisely what’s wrong with Democrats.”

“Every lie and distortion is intended to distract from getting their hats handed to them and the Virginia Supreme Court’s clear message: stop trying to rig our elections,” Kiggans wrote. “Democrats are trying to destroy Virginia’s court because they disagree with it. THAT is the real danger to our country.”

Christie Stephenson, a spokesperson for Jeffries, derided Kiggans Tuesday as an extremist who endorses “disgusting, vile and racist language” and “pretends to be a centrist.”

“The voters of Virginia will hold her accountable at the ballot box in November,” Stephenson said in a statement shared on X.

Trump Demands Mitch McConnell Fire Aide Who Reminded Him of Schedule

McConnell had attempted to end a Senate subcommittee hearing early, and he appeared confused when an aide stepped forward and reminded him three senators still needed to ask questions.

President Donald Trump demanded a congressional aide be fired Wednesday for making Senator Mitch McConnell look “completely out of it” during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. 

The staffer approached McConnell after the Kentucky Republican attempted to preemptively conclude the hearing Tuesday, during which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine testified about the Pentagon’s behemoth budget request and the war in Iran. The staffer explained that some senators still needed to ask questions, and his directions were audible on the microphone.  

McConnell: I’m going to ask Senator Murkowski to wrap up. Thank you all for being here Staffer: Baldwin, Shaheen, and Kennedy still have questions pic.twitter.com/S2z9Kv3OUI— Acyn (@Acyn) May 12, 2026

McConnell: I’m going to ask Senator Murkowski to wrap up. Thank you all for being here Staffer: Baldwin, Shaheen, and Kennedy still have questions pic.twitter.com/S2z9Kv3OUI

“The guy that came up to Mitch........

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