Nashville, TN Mayor: Metro Councilman John Cooper, the brother of local Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, announced on Monday that he would challenge Democratic Mayor David Briley in this August’s nonpartisan primary.
Cooper had said back in February that he would sit the race out. However, he explained this week that he had changed his mind because of Briley’s agenda, including a proposed $750 million affordable housing plan that Cooper argued was badly planned out. The councilor added that he expected to be his campaign’s largest donor, though he didn’t reveal how much he was willing to self-fund, and that he didn’t expect his brother to provide much aid to his bid.
During his four years representing the whole city on the Metro Council (the legislative body for Nashville), Cooper frequently found himself opposing both Briley and his predecessor, former Mayor Megan Barry. The Tennessean’s Nate Rau writes that Cooper “has vocally opposed economic incentive deals, city land sales, and the ballot referendum to create a financing mechanism for mass transit.” In kicking off his mayoral bid, Cooper argued that the city’s policy of using incentives to attract businesses was a “trickle down approach” that wasn’t helping areas neighborhoods other than downtown.
A few other candidates were already challenging Briley. The mayor’s other main opponents are Democratic state Rep. John Ray Clemmons and Carol Swain, a conservative law professor who lost the 2018 special election to Briley 54-23. The candidate filing deadline is May 16, and the nonpartisan primary will be held Aug. 1. If no one takes a majority, there would be a runoff on a later date.