Tennessee Pro-Life Democrat Removed from Party Loses House Reelection Bid

Tennessee State Rep. John DeBerry Jr.
photo credit: Sean Braisted / Flickr

Pro-life Tennessee State Representative John DeBerry, who was forced to run as an independent after being removed from the Democratic party in May, lost his reelection campaign on Tuesday.

DeBerry, who is also a minister in the Church of Christ, has served as a civil rights advocate in Tennessee's House of Representatives since 1994, but he was criticized by the Democratic party for several of his policy positions, including his pro-life beliefs.

"The fact that I had to be removed from the ballot and run as an independent... It says a lot about where things are right now," DeBerry said on Tuesday.

In a September interview with CNA, he said that he had no regrets about holding firm to his pro-life beliefs, despite opposition from his party.

“My work in Nashville as a legislator is nothing more than an extension of my work as a child of God, as a Christian,” DeBerry told CNA.

“And I take to heart Ephesians chapter 6, ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood’—people are not the enemy,” he said, but “there are those who make laws that are blasphemous of God’s law.”

“I have always made my focus staying in accordance to the laws of God, even when my votes are made.”

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