House Minority Leader Karen Camper of Memphis, was reelected as House Minority Leader on Nov. 23, 2024. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The Tennessee House Democratic Caucus re-elected its top two officers Saturday as they faced challengers from a rising star and a veteran in the party ranks.
House Democratic Caucus Leader Karen Camper of Memphis defeated Rep. G.A. Hardaway, a 16-year state lawmaker from Memphis, to keep her post for a fourth two-year term in her 16th year in the House.
In the other key race, Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons of Nashville, a 16-year House member, staved off Rep. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis.
Both votes were done by secret ballot, and the results were not announced.
Camper told caucus members, who are outnumbered 75-24 by Republicans, that despite being a superminority, they passed 91 bills in the last session.
Friction cropped up early this year between up-and-coming caucus members such as Pearson and veterans such as Rep. Johnny Shaw of Bolivar. Camper said afterward she wants to present a more solidified front on the House floor.
“With the unity I’m feeling amongst members in the room, when we have our floor strategy, I think everybody’s going to be more united in how we operate on the floor,” Camper said.
Entering a second term, Pearson presented a spirited challenge to Clemmons as one of the “Tennessee Three,” after he, Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville and Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville went through expulsion hearings in 2023 for rallying in support of stronger gun laws on the House floor.
Jones and Pearson, who were expelled and then returned by their local councils, received an endorsement by Rep. Jason Powell of Nashville before the vote. Nomination speeches weren’t allowed, yet in an impassioned speech detailing his own emotional breakdown, Powell said Democrats have Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson on their side and, “You don’t put those people on the bench.”
But Clemmons maintained the post. He led a caucus effort to raise $1 million this year but was unable to flip any House seats to Democrats.
Still, Clemmons called it a successful effort in maintaining several Democratic seats such as Rep. Ronnie Glynn’s district in Clarksville.
But Pearson told the caucus before the vote that if he had raised that amount of money as chairman without winning a seat, he wouldn’t expect members to support him for chairman.
Pearson, though, did raise nearly $1 million after returning to his post last year. He used the money for independent expenditures to back a failed Memphis mayoral candidate and to run a mailer against a Republican candidate in Williamson County this fall.
Asked how he plans to operate with supermajority Republicans, Clemmons said afterward most bills are passed in bipartisan votes.
He added, “People elect us to come up here and fight for Tennessee families. … To the extent that requires us disagreeing with (Republicans) in a strong manner, we’re gonna do it. We don’t always have to go along to get along.”
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