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Justin Jones (Tennessee politician)

Justin Shea Bautista-Jones (born August 25, 1995) is an American activist and politician from the state of Tennessee.[1] A member of the Democratic Party, he serves in the Tennessee House of Representatives for District 52, representing parts of Nashville. As of 2023, Jones is the second youngest member of the State House. He was expelled in April 2023 for violating decorum rules by participating in a gun control protest on the House floor. The Nashville Metro Council voted unanimously to reinstate Jones to serve as an interim representative pending a special election to fill the seat.[2][3]

Justin Jones

Himself

Himself

Justin Shea Bautista-Jones

(1995-08-25) August 25, 1995
Oakland, California, U.S.

Early life and education[edit]

Jones was born on August 25, 1995, in Oakland, California to a Filipina mother and an African American father. His mother, Christine, raised Justin and his sister while putting herself through nursing school. He is the grandson of black, working-class grandparents from the South Side of Chicago and Filipino immigrants of Ibanag and Aeta ancestry who migrated to California.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Fisk University and enrolled at Vanderbilt Divinity School.[5] In 2019, he campaigned for the removal of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol.[6]

Early career[edit]

In 2019, Jones announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Tennessee's 5th congressional district against Jim Cooper in the 2020 elections.[7] He did not submit enough valid signatures to make the ballot.[8]


Jones was arrested for refusing to leave a rally held by Marsha Blackburn in October 2018.[9] He was charged in 2019 with assaulting Glen Casada, a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, by allegedly throwing a drink, believed to be a hot coffee, at him.[10] He was also banned from the Capitol.[11] Casada later agreed to drop the charges.[12]


In 2020, Jones organized a 62-day sit-in protest for racial justice outside the state capitol after the murder of George Floyd. Among others, he was charged with assault, assault on an officer, and reckless endangerment after throwing a traffic cone into a moving truck's open driver-side window; Jones claimed that the driver was threatening him and using racial slurs.[13] He was arrested and faced a total of 14 charges.[14] Many of the charges were dropped in July 2021, but the reckless endangerment charges remained.[15] An assault charge regarding Jones allegedly hitting a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper with a bullhorn in July 2020 was dismissed by a judge in April 2023.[16]

Tennessee House of Representatives[edit]

2022 election[edit]

In 2022, Jones ran to succeed State Representative Mike Stewart as the member of the Tennessee House for the 52nd district.[17] Jones defeated Delishia Porterfield, a member of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County, in the Democratic Party primary election.[18] He won the general election without opposition.[19][20]

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