Tennessee House Republican Caucus Vice Chair Resigns Effective Immediately During House Lunch Break

The Tennessee state capitol in Nashville, Tenn., on Aug. 31, 2018. FaceMePLS via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

A Tennessee Representative resigned on Thursday, April 20, minutes before the House gaveled back into session following a lunch recess, Jennifer Easton, communications director for the House Republican Caucus, confirmed to The Epoch Times. Rep. Scotty Campbell was also the vice chair of the House Republican Caucus.

The resignation letter, provided to The Epoch Times by House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s office, stated only, “I resign from the Tennessee House of Representatives. Effective immediately.” It was submitted to the Speaker at 2:18 p.m., just ten minutes before the House came back into session.

Six hours before his resignation, Nashville’s News Channel 5 Investigates released a previously unpublished memo from a bipartisan House ethics subcommittee to Speaker Sexton (R) from March 29, noting Campbell violated workplace discrimination and harassment policy.

The validity of the memo (pdf) was confirmed to The Epoch Times by Connie Ridley, director of legislative administration for the Tennessee General Assembly.

The resignation was briefly mentioned on the House floor after coming back from recess by Democrats Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, who were both expelled for violating House decorum rules on April 6. Campbell voted to expel both.

Jones, after asking for recognition to speak on a different matter, started to say “my second concern is, Mr. Speaker, is that we just had a Republican member resign,” before his microphone was cut and he was called “out of order” by Speaker Sexton.

Pearson was also called out of order after saying, “I know it’ll be later, but I would say that we should talk about our colleague that is no longer here with us and the ramifications it has for this body and the resignation of a Republican member.”

Former Rep. Scotty Campbell in his official Tennessee General Assembly portrait. Tennessee General Assembly

“Can you stay within the language of the bill,” Sexton asked, as Pearson resumed with comments on the bill being discussed.

The Memo

The memo from the workplace discrimination and harassment subcommittee, written to Speaker Sexton on March 29, stated that based on a completed staff investigation, Campbell violated policy, according to the committee.

“Pursuant to the Tennessee General Assembly Police on Workplace Discrimination and Harassment and Rule 82 of the Permanent Rules of the Order of the House of Representatives of the One Hundred Eleventh General Assembly, the Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Subcommittee and Ethics Committee convened on March 29, 2023 for the purpose of receiving a complaint made against Representative Scotty Campbell of Johnson County,” the committee wrote in a memo.

Further wording stated the ethics subcommittee is committed to protecting “members, employees, and visitors by providing an environment free of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.”

“Discrimination and harassment in any form will not be tolerated,” the committee wrote. “The Subcommittee strongly urges all individuals, including the media, to respect the privacy of those involved in the complaint. In accordance with the Policy and Rule 82 no further information concerning this complaint will be released.”

Campbell’s page on the Tennessee General Assembly website is no longer available. It now lists his seat as “vacant.”

He served in the state House from 2010 to 2012, then he was reelected in 2020 and again in 2022.

The Epoch Times reached out to the House Republican Caucus, Speaker Sexton’s office, and Campbell for a statement on the resignation.