Supermajority: The Roll Call

Melissa Alexander and Mary Joyce speak to state representative John Gillespie at the Tennessee statehouse. Kevin Wurm for NPR hide caption

toggle caption Kevin Wurm for NPR

It's been four months since the Covenant moms – lifelong conservatives Melissa Alexander, Mary Joyce and Sarah Shoop Neumann – pleaded with their lawmakers to pass gun control measures during a special session at the Tennessee statehouse.

Now they're back – for months, not days – and this time, they feel prepared to face the GOP-dominated legislature.

But when the 2024 legislative session begins, the mothers realize that the Republican majority's new bills may be more complicated than they anticipated.

The women discover a long line of dissenters flocking to the statehouse, to protest bills about abortion, education, police violence and LGBTQ rights.

Will the women stand alongside these other constituents and broaden their objectives beyond gun control? And what happens when they begin to imagine unseating one of their lawmakers?

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