Metro Nashville Councilman for District 19 Freddie O’Connell announced, according to The Tennessean on Thursday, that he plans to run as Nashville’s next mayor in 2023.
O’Connell has been a councilmember since 2015, serving the downtown and Germantown area of Nashville.
In 2015, O’Connell took 54.3 percent of the vote in the four-way nonpartisan race, so a run-off was not required. In 2019, the incumbent O’Connell ran unopposed and, in accordance with the Charter of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, would be term-limited in 2023 from his district seat on the council.
Since moving there in 2007, O’Connell has been very active in his Salemtown neighborhood and engaged in the issue of transportation, having served on the board of directors of Nashville MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) and as a member of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, according to his website. O’Connell has consistently expressed concern over the affordable housing and homelessness situation in Nashville, and was critical on social media of how the mayor’s office has been handling aspects of the crisis.
Last fall, I warned the mayor’s office: failure to resolve tension b/w Metro Social Services and the Homeless Impact Division would result in collapse of the division.
Since the Oct resignation of its director, MHID has had 11 additional resignations. I didn’t want to be right.
— Freddie #GetVaccinated O’Connell (@freddieoconnell) April 15, 2022
O’Connell supported and voted for the $9 billion transit plan called Let’s Move Nashville, originally introduced by Mayor Megan Barry – who left office in disgrace and was then supported by her successor, Vice Mayor David Briley.
At the time, O’Connell told Nashville Scene there were things in the plan to be critical of, but it was an “easy yes” for him when weighing the $9 billion plan to the status quo, pointing to the prospects of increasing the number of affordable housing units.
In a personal Facebook post on April 18, 2018, which the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee shared with his permission, O’Connell explained his yes vote on the transit plan to address what he called “our mobility crisis,” and warned against a “better plan.”
The transit plan went before the voters, as required in the legislature’s 2017 passage of the IMPROVE Act which – in addition to increasing gas and fuel taxes during a year the state had $1 billion in surplus revenues – enabled a way to implement mass transit planning and funding.
The voters of Nashville and Davidson County delivered a crushing defeat to the transit plan in the May 1, 2018, referendum by a margin of 64 to 36 percent, The Tennessee Star reported.
O’Connell also voted for the 34 and 37 percent property tax increases for the USD and GSD, respectively, on June 16, 2020. The huge property tax increase came during the financial crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic that was exacerbated by Mayor John Cooper’s restrictions on Nashville’s economic engine of entertainment and tourism. The passage of the tax increase prompted a citizen-led recall effort of the council members and Mayor John Cooper.
Following the violent riot in downtown Nashville on May 30, 2020, during which the courthouse was set on fire, there was damage to numerous buildings and police vehicles, and warrants were issued against three people. The warrants were subsequently recalled, but in the meantime, O’Connell asked the mayor to request the resignation of then Metro Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson.
We have reached the point of absurdity. I spoke to @JohnCooper4Nash this afternoon and encouraged him to request the resignation of Chief Anderson. https://t.co/SpIALxnYcV
— Freddie #GetVaccinated O’Connell (@freddieoconnell) June 4, 2020
In 2021, O’Connell tweeted that he invested in a project, Moving Nashville Forward, that would provide the city’s first guaranteed basic income pilot.
I invested in this project, and I encourage you to, as well. https://t.co/6woKlm5Zii
— Freddie #GetVaccinated O’Connell (@freddieoconnell) September 5, 2021
As for Cooper, who is serving his first term as mayor of Nashville, he has not made a formal announcement about his plans for the 2023 election.
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Laura Baigert is a senior reporter at The Star News Network, where she covers stories for The Tennessee Star.
Photo “Freddie O’Connell ” by Freddie O’Connell.
