Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry has expressed interest in running this year to regain the post she left in 2018 following a scandal, a move that came shortly after incumbent John Cooper unexpectedly announced he would not seek re-election. Barry became one of the most prominent Democrats in Tennessee following her 2015 win, but she quit three years later as part of a plea deal for felony theft related to an affair with the former head of her security detail.
Barry’s hardly the only person, though, who is mulling running in the August nonpartisan primary: Axios’ Nate Rau responded to Cooper’s retirement by tweeting, “I have never fielded the crush of gossipy phone calls like have poured in since Mayor Cooper's announcement. It's bonkers out there folks.” Davidson County Assessor Vivian Wilhoite says she’ll form an exploratory committee, while Rau and Nashville Banner’s Steve Cavendish have each rounded up statements from other would-be candidates who are showing some interest:
- Attorney and 2015 candidate Charles Robert Bone
- State Rep. Bob Freeman
- Businessman Jim Gingrich
- Register of Deeds Karen Johnson
- 2022 congressional nominee Odessa Kelly
- Juvenile Court Clerk Lonnell Matthews
- Metro Councilmember Bob Mendes
- State Sen. Jeff Yarbro
Three notable candidates were already challenging Cooper: former economic development chief Matt Wiltshire and Metro Councilmembers Sharon Hurt and Freddie O'Connell. The filing deadline is in May, and a September runoff would take place if no one earned a majority of the vote in the first round.
Rau predicts “this year's mayor's race will be a bloody free-for-all,” but the winner will also likely be in for an ugly confrontation with the Republican-dominated Tennessee legislature.
The GOP had already introduced two bills intended to punish the city’s legislative body, the Metro Council, for effectively killing the legislature’s plan to land the 2024 Republican National Convention, and more came the day of Cooper’s retirement announcement. The new pieces of legislation would allow lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bill Lee to appoint a majority of members to the boards that run major Nashville sites like the airport, Nissan Stadium, and Bridgestone Arena.