Local Democrats select a new leader of the Shelby County Democratic Party Saturday, April 1, against the backdrop of protests by the Democratic minority in the state House.

Jesse Huseth, who along with Lexie Carter is vying for the party chairmanship, says veteran Tennessee House Democrats were wrong to block freshman House members Justin Pearson of Memphis and Justin Jones of Nashville Thursday, March 30, from their protest on the floor. State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) also participated in the protest.

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Pearson used a bullhorn and read aloud a bill that’s caption was about rape kits but that also included a clause stripping the discretionary power of District Attorneys to make decisions on whether to pursue the death penalty in murder cases.

“That was read out loud by Representative Pearson,” Huseth told a group of 50 Thursday at a party forum in Midtown for those seeking the chairmanship. “While that happened, two veteran Democratic leaders walked up to Pearson and tried to stop him. That’s a problem.”

“If we want to talk about engaging people, working with people — it’s not just listening,” he said. “It’s not just bringing them in. It’s giving them advocacy. It’s magnifying their voice.”

All three of the Democratic legislators could face sanctions from House Speaker Cameron Sexton.

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House Democratic leader Karen Camper, who is a candidate for Memphis mayor, could be seen in Twitter videos gesturing sharply at Pearson in the aftermath of the protest that briefly recessed the House. She and other more senior Democratic House leaders escorted them off the floor to a private meeting.

Camper and Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) later described the floor protest as “good trouble” invoking a favorite quote of the late civil rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

Huseth and Carter each agree that the local party should devote more of its resources and efforts to flipping House seats now held by Republicans — including four of the 13 House seats in the Shelby County delegation held by Republicans.

Carter said the local party’s executive committee, which is currently based on county commission districts, should return to selecting its members from state House districts.

“We’re not in the House districts any longer. We are not their base any longer,” she said. “They may be functioning well without us. But there’s a definite disconnect with the legislators. They need us being their voices.”

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The local Democratic Party’s executive committee meets Saturday to elect the new chairman among Huseth, Carter and Alvin Crook, who was not at Thursday’s forum.

Current local party chairwoman Gabby Salinas is not seeking another term. Cary Vaughn was reelected as Shelby County Republican Party chairman at a party convention a week ago in Cordova.

Huseth said his priority would be turning Republican state House seats for Democrats and building toward a Democratic majority there.

“That is the only way Shelby County people will actually get to govern themselves,” he said.

Democrats holding every countywide office in Shelby County and having a nine-vote majority on the Shelby County Commission doesn’t count for much with Republican super majorities in the Tennessee Legislature, he said.

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“The way our state Constitution is written, if the state just decides that they want to change a law that can affect Shelby County — they are able to do it,” Huseth said. “Because they have supermajorities in committee and on the floor, we have no recourse to stop it.”

Carter wants Memphis Democrats to work in surrounding counties to flip Republican House seats in rural west Tennessee that were once Democratic. Their conversion to Republican seats was key to the Republican majorities in the Legislature starting in 2010.

“If we turn Tennessee blue, it’s going to start right here. Shelby County is the largest voting block in Tennessee,” she said. “The work has to start with us. We can do that by linking to the Democratic parties that are near to us.”