Nashville Election Review: Barry and Fox go to mayoral runoff
August 7, 2015
By Ballotpedia's Municipal government team
Elections were held yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee, home of the third-largest municipal body in the country. The positions of mayor, vice mayor and all 40 city council seats were up for election. Of the 42 races, 27 did not feature an incumbent. Of the 15 incumbents who sought re-election to their seat, two of them were defeated by challengers.
Mayor
In the mayoral race, two-term incumbent Karl Dean was term-limited and therefore unable to seek re-election. Seven candidates filed to succeed him, including three local Nashville politicians: Megan Barry, a term-limited at-large council member; David Fox, a former chair of the Metropolitan Nashville School Board; and Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk Howard Gentry, formerly an at-large council member, vice mayor and 2007 mayoral candidate. Also in the race were local attorney Charles Robert Bone, real estate executive and Democratic fundraiser Bill Freeman, charter school founder Jeremy Kane and local businesswoman Linda Eskind Rebrovick.
Barry and Fox earned enough votes to advance to the runoff election on September 10. Freeman, who led in the polls for a significant portion of time, finished a close third.[1]
| Nashville Mayor General Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
 Megan Barry |
23.5% | 24,553 | |
| David Fox |
22.8% | 23,754 | |
| Bill Freeman | 21.4% | 22,308 | |
| Howard Gentry | 11.6% | 12,110 | |
| Charles Robert Bone | 10.5% | 10,962 | |
| Linda Eskind Rebrovick | 5.6% | 5,827 | |
| Jeremy Kane | 4.6% | 4,767 | |
| Write-in | 0.1% | 62 | |
| Total Votes | 93,687 | ||
| Source: City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official general election results," accessed September 15, 2015 | |||
Vice mayor
The race for vice mayor pitted former council member David Briley against at-large council incumbent and former Tennessee state legislator Tim Garrett. Briley served on the council from 1999 to 2007. He ran for mayor in 2007 and finished fifth in the general election.[2] Garrett was elected to the council in 2007. Before that, he was the District 10 representative on the metro council from 1983 to 1999 and the District 50 representative in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1984 to 2004. Garrett ran for the vice mayoral seat in 1999 and lost. Incumbent Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors was prohibited from running for re-election due to term limits.
Voters chose Briley over Garrett by a six-point margin.[1]
| Nashville Vice Mayor General Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| David Briley |
52.6% | 47,442 | |
| Tim Garrett | 46.6% | 42,054 | |
| Write-in | 0.7% | 661 | |
| Total Votes | 90,157 | ||
| Source: City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official general election results," accessed September 15, 2015 | |||
City council
The at-large race went to a runoff. It featured a total of 26 candidates fighting for just five seats. The rules for at-large runoff elections are described here. All five at-large incumbents were term-limited, but plenty of term-limited district council members sought election to one of the city-wide seats. Nine district members ran. All of them have been members of the council since 2007.
The following candidates will compete in the September runoff for the five at-large seats: Karen Bennett, Erin Coleman, John Cooper, Robert Duvall, Erica Gilmore, Jason Holleman, Sharon W Hurt, Lonnell Matthews, Jr., Bob Mendes and Jim Shulman.
| Nashville City Council At-large General Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Erica Gilmore |
9.6% | 36,675 | |
| John Cooper |
9.2% | 35,080 | |
| Bob Mendes |
6.5% | 24,581 | |
| Jim Shulman |
5.7% | 21,869 | |
| Sharon W Hurt |
5.3% | 20,086 | |
| Robert Duvall |
5% | 18,877 | |
| Lonnell Matthews, Jr. |
4.7% | 18,064 | |
| Karen Bennett |
4.6% | 17,390 | |
| Jason Holleman |
4.4% | 16,612 | |
| Erin Coleman |
4.3% | 16,557 | |
| Don Majors | 4.3% | 16,214 | |
| Adam Dread | 4.2% | 16,146 | |
| Walter Hunt | 4.2% | 16,090 | |
| Sandra Moore | 3.9% | 14,991 | |
| Buddy Baker | 3.3% | 12,695 | |
| Ronnie Greer, Sr. | 3.3% | 12,454 | |
| Ken Jakes | 3.1% | 11,922 | |
| Frank Harrison | 2.5% | 9,659 | |
| John Lasiter | 2.4% | 9,151 | |
| Elizabeth Dachowski | 2.2% | 8,525 | |
| Phillip Joseph Hostettler, Jr. | 2% | 7,738 | |
| Jody Ball | 1.5% | 5,709 | |
| James Keeton | 1.1% | 4,026 | |
| Leroy Johnny Ellis | 1% | 3,880 | |
| Martin Holsinger | 0.6% | 2,245 | |
| Al Carota | 0.6% | 2,097 | |
| Write-in | 0.4% | 1,374 | |
| Total Votes | 138,291 | ||
| Source: City of Nashville Election Commission, "Official general election results," accessed September 15, 2015 | |||
Eighty-seven candidates vied for the 35 district seats. Term limits and three early retirements opened up 20 of these seats. Fifteen incumbents sought re-election, but two of them were defeated. In races that featured incumbents, the average number of candidates was less than two. Seven of these races featured unopposed incumbents, and only three incumbents faced more than one candidate. In races without an incumbent, the average number of candidates was slightly above three. There were a few open races that deviated from this average. Districts 1, 2 and 8 had eight, five and six candidates respectively, while Districts 14 and 25 had one candidate each.
For a list of all the winners and runoff competitors in the 35 district seats, click here.
See also
External links
Footnotes
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