After more than a year of being dogged with allegations of sexual assault, Rep. David Byrd told his House Republican colleagues Friday he would not seek reelection in 2020.

Byrd announced his decision during a closed-door caucus meeting less than an hour before the start of Friday's special legislative session.

A Tennessean reporter heard the discussion, which took place inside the legislative library.

Byrd, R-Waynesboro, is accused by three women of sexually assaulting them when they were teenagers in the 1980s while he was their teacher and basketball coach at Wayne County High School.

Speaking to his colleagues, Byrd addressed the protests he has faced, which he said were led by out-of-state actors, while touting last year's election results.

He criticized Enough is Enough, a political action committee that formed in 2018 that has focused its attention on Byrd this year, and the "liberal media."

Byrd also gave a warning to his colleagues — if he were to be expelled or not seek reelection, his critics would win and could result in other GOP lawmakers being targeted.

"I have decided to not seek reelection for another term," Byrd told the caucus shortly after 9 a.m.

He said he wanted to announce his decision on his terms and did not "want the media to know" immediately.

Byrd has said he is not stepping down from the legislature, but has not publicly denied the allegations, other than to say he did nothing wrong while in office.

Democrats fail at effort to expel Byrd during special session

An effort to remove Byrd from office failed to receive adequate support on Friday as House Republicans blocked a Democrat-led resolution to expel him.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, announced in early July she would be filing the expulsion resolution, and did so earlier this month once the House clerk's office began accepting resolutions for the special session.

Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson and chairman of the House judiciary committee, made a motion to refer Johnson's resolution to his committee "as quickly as the speaker will allow" to hear testimony under oath from Byrd and his accusers.

The motion passed 71-26, with two Republicans, Reps. Brandon Ogles and Charlie Baum, voting against it, and two Democrats, Reps. G.A. Hardaway and Johnny Shaw, voting for it.

Ogles said after the vote that he was prepared to have voted to expel if Johnson's resolution had been heard.

"Though I agreed it should be investigated in judiciary, allegations against children should be dealt with swiftly," Ogles said.

He did not comment on whether Byrd should resign immediately.

In the resolution, Johnson noted that the expulsion vote was warranted due to Byrd's "disorderly behavior as described by credible victims in multiple reports."

She also attempted to make a motion directly to expel Byrd, but once again was overruled by the majority of members who agreed to send the matter for a judiciary hearing.

Because the statute of limitations has passed on the allegations against Byrd, a judiciary hearing is essentially the only remaining way subpoenas could be issued against Byrd to compel testimony.

After session, Sexton said he would wait until an attorney general opinion has been issued on expelling a member for past conduct before calling for the judiciary committee to investigate Byrd.

House GOP mum on what was discussed in Byrd caucus meeting

Heading into the House GOP caucus meeting, Rep. Jeremy Faison, who is the group's newly elected leader, said Byrd would be discussed. But Faison, R-Crosby, said the discussion would have nothing to do with how to handle Democrats' planned efforts to expel the embattled Republican from the chamber.

After the meeting, Faison confirmed Byrd addressed the caucus. He said the "family discussion" was to determine the "temperature" of the group.

When asked if Byrd indicated he would resign or not seek reelection, Faison said he would not talk about anything his colleague said.

Byrd faced questions from reporters minutes before the House's 10 a.m. floor session.

"Right now I don’t have any comments on that," he said. "We’ll be having a statement on that pretty soon."

Byrd, who confirmed he has no plans to resign, said in a brief interview he’d make a statement in September.

Byrd's decision to not seek reelection came after mounting pressure from within his own caucus. Although he began the year by receiving support from former House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin, over the course of the legislative session he faced repeated protests and became a distraction for the caucus.

Gov. Bill Lee, who has been hesitant to call for Byrd to resign, has said he should answer the allegations of sexual assault.

"It's not good enough," said Kristina Richardson, a sexual assault survivor and volunteer with Enough Is Enough Tennessee, who has helped lead the charge against Byrd. "Not running again makes him a martyr. He's going to go back to his district and be a martyr and those women are still going to be ostracized."

Richardson was referring to the women who spoke out against Byrd, who said they have faced backlash in the Waynesboro area.

Immediately after the Tennessean published a story about Byrd's plans, Johnson said his decision not to run was evidence that he did something wrong.

"Clearly, something's there if he's going to resign," Johnson said. "Why are we going to allow him to sit here for another 15 months?"

As the House began its floor session Friday, protesters in the balcony held signs that read "Expel Byrd" and "Hear Us."

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.