(NewsNation) — Two members of Tennessee’s House of Representatives have been reinstated after they were expelled for protesting on the floor of the chamber in violation of House rules.
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson says the expulsions were a waste of taxpayer money because now, a special election will need to be held to permanently refill the seats.
In a debate Thursday with conservative radio host Ben Ferguson on “CUOMO,” Parkinson noted the thousands of dollars it will cost to administer those elections.
“They will probably not even have an opponent running against them,” Parkinson said.
Ferguson defended the expulsions, saying “rules are rules. ” He argued one of the representatives, Justin Jones, has a long history of not following rules, citing video that shows Jones standing on top of a police car during a protest in 2020.
“We learned a lot more about these two individuals that were expelled that people didn’t know beforehand,” Ferguson said.
Watch a portion of their debate in the video player above.