Justin Augustus Lafferty (born May 13, 1971) is an American politician from the state of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. A Republican, Lafferty has represented the 89th district of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

, based in the western suburbs of

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

, since 2019.

Career

In 2018, Roger Kane announced his retirement from the 89th district of the

, and a crowded field formed to replace him. Lafferty, a stay-at-home father and a landlord, was considered a significant underdog against several of his competitors, including former Knox County sheriff Tim Hutchison and former

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Stacey Campfield. However, Lafferty outpolled both to win the primary with just over 30% of the vote. In the strongly Republican suburban seat, Lafferty went on to soundly win the general election over

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Coleen Martinez, 64-36%. On May 4, 2021, Lafferty made a speech on the Tennessee House floor in defense of the

Three-fifths Compromise The Three-fifths Compromise, also known as the Constitutional Compromise of 1787, was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention over the inclusion of slaves in counting a state's total population. This count ...

, a provision of the original

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

resulting from a 1787 agreement between northern and southern states, providing that three-fifths of a state's slave population would be counted for representation in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. The compromise is regarded as one of the most racist deals among the states during the country's founding. Lafferty inaccurately claimed in his speech that the three-fifths compromise was adopted for "the purpose of ending slavery." In 2023, Lafferty supported resolutions to expel three Democratic lawmakers from the legislature for violating decorum rules.

Personal life

Lafferty lives in

with his wife and daughter.

References

Living people Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives 1971 births University of Tennessee alumni Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee 21st-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly {{Tennessee-politician-stub