NASHVILLE – The state House’s top three Republican leaders told embattled Rep. Jeremy Durham on Wednesday he needs to resign his seat in the General Assembly and deal with personal issues and sexual harassment allegations.
The move came after the 32-year-old Republican earlier in the day told GOP Caucus members, who were about to consider a move to oust Durham from their caucus, that he was formally separating himself from them, but not resigning.
There’s such a preponderance of issues that are coming up that we feel like Jeremy needs to get some help, which he has agreed to go to counseling and get some help. And he could do that better if he wasn’t in the Legislature,” said House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, who participated in the call with Republican Speaker Beth Harwell and Speaker Pro Tempore Curtis Johnson.
McCormick, who told the Times Free Press earlier this week he received complaints about Durham involving harassment from two women last year who declined to press formal charges due to concerns of reprisals, said the lawmakers’ problems are “just such a distraction to everyone, to the caucus in particular, and to the entire House of Representatives.
“We asked him to consider resigning rather than going through a lengthy process where he would have to explain his actions, in addition to going through the treatment he needs and getting everything in order in that area,” McCormick said.