(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Former Nashville mayor mulls comeback five years after stepping down following scandal [1]

['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-02-01  

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.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/1/2150575/-Former-Nashville-mayor-mulls-comeback-five-years-after-stepping-down-following-scandal

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/