Two Expelled Tennessee Democrats To Lose Health Benefits As State Rep. Gloria Johnson Claims Racism

Two Black Democratic state lawmakers were expelled for joining anti-gun protests last week, and will be stripped of their health benefits, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville was among the trio now dubbed as the "Tennessee Three," arguing that she was the only one to keep her position because she's White.

"I think it's pretty clear I'm a sixty-year-old White woman, and they are two young Black men. I was talked down to as a woman, man-splained to. But it was completely different from the questioning that they got," she told CNN on Thursday.

She had joined her fellow lawmakers Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville and Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis for the demonstrations at the Tennessee State Capitol which came after transgender shooter Audrey Hale, 28, opened fire inside the Covenant School in Nashville and murdered six people, including three 9-year-olds.

House resolutions were filed earlier this week to expel the three reps after Speaker of the House of Representatives Cameron Sexton removed them from their committee and subcommittee seats.

Johnson was the only one to survive the cut — by a single vote.

Prior to the hearing, Johnson said she became privy to information that she wanted made public knowledge.

"I just had a visit from the head of HR and the House ethics lawyer," her April 5 tweet read. "I appreciate them letting me know that if I am expelled, I will lose my health benefits."

Johnson continued, "I also appreciate the ethics lawyer, letting me know that in one case, a member who was potentially up for expulsion decided to resign because if you resign, you maintain your health benefits, I appreciate that information."

The Biden White House condemned Jones and Pearson being expelled, stating that "today's expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic and without precedent."

The statement slammed Republican lawmakers for choosing to "punish, silence and expel duly elected representatives of the people of Tennessee."

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Sexton, for his part, has denied accusations that Johnson's save had anything to do with her skin color.

"That's a false narrative on her part," he said during an interview on Fox & Friends. "It's unfortunate. She's trying to put political racism in this, which there was nothing on this. They were all given due process."

"We have rules, we have decorum, we have a process, we have procedures," he added. Sexton previously said he considered the lawmakers' actions out of line and claimed they tried to "incite riots."

"What they did was not right, and it deserved expulsion."