A Republican-led effort to expel two Democratic representatives from the Tennessee House on Thursday sparked nationwide outcry, with critics blasting the move as “undemocratic” and some even expressing accusations of racism.

Tennessee Republicans voted to oust Reps. Justin Jones, who represents Nashville, and Justin Pearson, who represents Memphis, from the chamber for their role in a gun safety demonstration following a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson, survived expulsion by one vote.

“We are losing our democracy,” Pearson said Thursday afternoon. “This is not normal, this is not okay."

"We broke a House rule because we were fighting for kids who are dying from gun violence and people in our communities who want to see an end to the proliferation of weaponry in our communities, and that leads to our expulsion?" he continued. "This is not democracy, this is not what it's supposed to look like."

“Rather than pass laws that will address red flags and banning assault weapons and universal background checks, they passed resolutions to expel their colleagues,” Jones said. “And they think that the issue is over. We’ll see you on Monday.”

Such a move to expel lawmakers is exceedingly rare — the chamber used it only a handful of times dating back to the U.S. Civil War — and is usually reserved for true misconduct, not protest. 

The expulsion sparked outcry as near as the visitors’ gallery of the Tennessee House — with protesters calling GOP lawmakers “fascists” and chanting “Shame!” — and as far away as Washington.

In a statement, President Joe Biden called the move “shocking” and “undemocratic,” lamenting the fact that lawmakers chose to hold votes to expel the three Democrats rather than listen to the calls of hundreds of protesters who marched on the state’s capitol to call for gun safety reform.

“Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” Biden said. “Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”

“A strong majority of Americans want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms that we know will save lives,” he continued. “But instead, we’ve continued to see Republican officials across America double down on dangerous bills that make our schools, places of worship, and communities less safe. Our kids continue to pay the price.”

Biden’s old boss, former President Barack Obama, agreed with his sentiment, calling the expulsions “the latest example of a broader erosion of civility and democratic norms.”

“This nation was built on peaceful protest,” Obama wrote on Twitter. “No elected official should lose their job simply for raising their voice – especially when they’re doing it on behalf of our children.”

“What happened in Tennessee is the latest example of a broader erosion of civility and democratic norms,” Obama continued. "Silencing those who disagree with us is a sign of weakness, not strength, and it won’t lead to progress.”

Vice President Kamala Harris called the Republican lawmakers' actions "undemocratic and dangerous."

"Six people, including three children, were killed last week in a school shooting in Nashville," she wrote on Twitter. "How did Republican lawmakers in Tennessee respond? By expelling their colleagues who stood with Tennesseans and said enough is enough."

Former Vice President Al Gore, who previously represented Tennessee in the U.S. House and Senate, lamented the fact that Republicans “disenfranchised nearly 150,000 voters” by expelling their elected officials.

“What a historically sad day for democracy in Tennessee,” Gore wrote on Twitter.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., compared the situation in Tennessee to that of U.S. House Rep. George Santos, a Republican lawmaker who has resisted calls for resignation after admitting to embellishing portions of his resume and background.

"Right-wing extremists wrongfully expelled two young black legislators in Tennessee," Jeffries wrote on his campaign Twitter account. "Extreme MAGA Republicans in the House refuse to expel serial fraudster George Santos. Vote them all out in 2024."

Some levied accusations of racism in lawmakers' actions; Johnson is white, while Jones and Pearson are both Black. 

"3 Tennessee Reps were on “trial” for simply fighting to end gun violence today," Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat and the youngest member of Congress, wrote on Twitter. "Two of them were expelled. The two Black ones. Don’t tell me racism doesn’t exist. It’s alive and well. Especially in the South. Young people will not let this stand."

"Tennessee GOP lawmakers just voted to expel two duly elected young black men from their legislature and not the one white woman," Anna Eskamani, a member of the Florida House of Representatives and a prominent Democrat in the state, wrote on Twitter. "All three participated in a protest for gun safety. Undemocratic to expel anyone, let alone do so in such a racist & shameless way."

When asked on CNN why she survived the expulsion vote, Johnson herself said that she believes the reasoning is "pretty clear."

"I'm a 60-year-old white woman and they are two young Black men," she said. "In listening to the questions and the way they were questions and the way they were talked to – I was talked down to as a woman, 'mansplained' to, but it was completely different from the questioning that they got," adding that Jones and Pearson were spoken to "in a demeaning way."

"The expelled the two black men and kept the the white woman! Tennessee state Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat who represents Memphis, wrote on Twitter. "The racism that is on display today! Wow!"

On CNN on Friday, Martin Luther King III, the son of the iconic civil rights leader, said the reasoning behind the expulsions "seems to be absolutely crystal clear."

"It shows the tragic divide," he said. "In 2023, we're still dealing with racism ... racism is still very real."

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Majority Leader William Lamberth pushed back on allegations that race factored into expulsion decisions.

"Our members literally didn’t look at the ethnicity of the members up for expulsion," Lamberth said, baselessly alleging that Jones and Pearson attempted to incite a riot.

New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman called for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies and players for the University of Tennessee football team to boycott their games in light of what happened in the state's legislature.

"Start hitting Tennessee and Memphis in the pockets, I guarantee you those Republicans will begin to behave differently," he said on MSNBC.

Before the expulsion votes, House members debated more than 20 bills, including a school safety proposal requiring public and private schools to submit building safety plans to the state. The bill did not address gun control, sparking criticism from some Democrats that it only addresses a symptom and not the cause of school shootings.

Past expulsion votes have taken place under distinctly different circumstances.

In 2019, lawmakers faced pressure to expel former Republican Rep. David Byrd over accusations of sexual misconduct dating to when he was a high school basketball coach three decades earlier. Republicans declined to take action, pointing out that he was reelected as the allegations surfaced. Byrd retired last year.

Last year, the state Senate expelled Democrat Katrina Robinson after she was convicted of using about $3,400 in federal grant money on wedding expenses instead of her nursing school.

Before that, state lawmakers last ousted a House member in 2016 when the chamber voted 70-2 to remove Republican Rep. Jeremy Durham over allegations of improper sexual contact with at least 22 women during his four years in office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.