He went out in dramatic fashion.
Under attack because of allegations of sexual misconduct, then state Rep. Jeremy Durham pointed to a black binder and told his fellow lawmakers there was information in it that could be damaging to some of them.
“I assure you, you don’t want me releasing some of the things that are in this binder,” Durham, who previously denied any wrongdoing, told a special session of the Tennessee legislature in September 2016.
Durham, R-Williamson County, complained for 13 minutes about the state attorney general’s investigation into Durham’s alleged misconduct, without denying specific allegations — and ultimately without dishing any dirt on other legislators.
That didn’t stop the legislature from voting 70-2 to oust Durham, a vote taken after he walked out of the Capitol building. And it didn’t stop a fellow Republican from publicly scolding Durham after the vote.
“I mean, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son. I feel violated that any one of our members would treat anyone in the fashion that the allegations in the report lay out,” said Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, now the House Majority Leader.
“I will also tell you that having personally known Rep. Durham for four years, I felt betrayed,” Lamberth said. “If any one of those allegations is true, it is completely unacceptable behavior by an elected representative of this state.”
Then state Rep. Jeremy Durham at his desk in the House Chambers during a special session at the state Capitol in Nashville on Sept. 13, 2016, when legislators voted 70-2 to expel him.
It was the first time in Tennessee history the legislature expelled a state representative for alleged sexual misconduct and only the second time since the Civil War that the legislature expelled a lawmaker for any reason.
In all, the state attorney general found 22 women who said Durham had acted in a sexually inappropriate manner with them.
The most jarring of the allegations: a 20-year-old “college student/political worker” said Durham gave her beer and had sex with her in his office and in his home.
The attorney general’s report also included allegations about lewd comments and inappropriate hugs from the then 32-year-old lawmaker. Durham never faced any criminal charges related to allegations of sexual impropriety.
Then state Rep. Jeremy Durham reads a statement and suspends his re-election campaign July 14, 2016, in Nashville after the state Attorney General’s office issued a report about allegations of Durham wrongdoing.
Earlier this year, a Davidson County jury found Durham guilty of DUI and felony reckless endangerment after he crashed his car and injured another driver downtown Oct. 22, 2022.
Durham crashed into the back of another car at 1st Avenue North and Broadway at about 11:15 a.m. that day, Metro Police said. At the scene, Durham appeared to be unsteady on his feet, slurred his speech and had dilated pupils, according to an arrest affidavit.
Durham’s attorney declined to comment on the jury’s verdict in May.
The Tennessean is publishing a Notorious Nashville story for each year from 2000-2024. Catch up on the series here.
Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Notorious Nashville: Lawmaker ousted after misconduct allegations