Nashville, TN Mayor: David Briley took over as mayor of Nashville in March after fellow Democrat Megan Barry resigned in March following a personal scandal, and Briley won the May special election for the final year-and-a-half of her term by a 54-23 margin. Briley will be up for a full four-year term in August, and despite his clear win a few months ago, he could be in for a tougher time next year.
The Tennessean’s Joey Garrison writes that Briley has had some big high-profile successes and setbacks over the last few months. The mayor did convince the Metro Council (Nashville’s city council) to approve $275 million for a new Major League Soccer stadium, and Amazon also recently announced that they would set up an Operations Hub in Nashville. However, Briley alienated some local unions by refusing to raise property taxes, which has indefinitely delayed a promised cost-of-living pay adjustment for city employees.
The mayor has also found himself on the opposite side of voters on a few key issues. In May, Briley backed an unsuccessful referendum that would have raised four taxes to fund a $5.4 billion transit plan, though Briley won his special election a few weeks later anyway. Garrison also writes that voters later passed a community oversight board over police despite Briley’s strong objections.
Nashville has never ousted a sitting mayor since the city consolidated with the rest of Davidson County government in 1962, and it’s far from clear at this point if Briley is in any danger of achieving this undesired milestone. However, several local politicians are talking about challenging him next year. The filing deadline is May 16, and all the candidates will face off on one nonpartisan ballot on Aug. 1. If no one takes a majority, there would be a runoff later, though a date does not appear to have been scheduled yet.
While the filing deadline isn’t for several months, a few local Democrats say they’ll decide very soon. State Rep. John Ray Clemmons said he was “listening to those who have serious concerns” about Briley’s administration and that a candidate would likely need to decide before the end of the year, but he stopped short of announcing. Real estate executive Bill Freeman, a prominent fundraiser for the state Democratic Party, also said he’d likely decide over the next month or so about whether to get in. Freeman ran in 2015 and spent $4 million of his own money on his bid, but he took a close third place after spending much of the race as the front-runner.
At-large Councilwoman Erica Gilmore, who took just 6 percent of the vote against Briley in this year’s special, also says she’ll decide on another try over the next two weeks, though she’d need to give up her seat to run. Fellow at-large Councilman John Cooper, the younger brother of Nashville Rep. Jim Cooper, has been coy about his own interest, and Garrison writes that there’s been plenty of buzz about his plans. He adds that Cooper has attracted a following for his willingness to challenge the local political status quo, which has unsurprisingly ticked off much of the local establishment. However, Cooper would also likely have access to plenty of cash if he ran.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who is perennially mentioned as a potential mayoral candidate, says he’s once again been asked to run and isn’t ruling anything out. However, Hall said he has “a decent relationship with the mayor's office, and that's important,” and went on to compare Briley to a backup quarterback and add that “some backups turn out to be hall of fame players. That's where I think the city is, deciding whether this person who was thrust into the position, is best for the long haul.”
Finally, one well-known figure who hasn’t yet run for office may be considering. Back in April, James Shaw Jr. made national news for disarming the gunman who had already fatally shot four people at a local Waffle House. Shaw, dubbed the “Waffle House Hero,” has been a Nashville celebrity since then, and he recently took over as marshall of the local christmas parade after conservative singer Kid Rock was fired for misogynist comments.
Last month Shaw got plenty of attention after he tweeted, “A better people, a better culture, a better Nashville.......#August2019” and told a local fifth-grade class that he was interested in running. In a weird coincidence, Kid Rock flirted with his own campaign for a Michigan U.S. Senate seat last year, but Shaw sounds a whole lot more serious about seeking office than the guy he ended up replacing in the parade. Shaw said that, while he hadn’t decided on a platform, gun safety would likely be on his agenda. However, Shaw doesn’t seem to have said much about his plans over the last month, and neither he nor his publicist responded to Garrison’s request for a comment.