Early voting for the 2023 Metro Nashville General Election wrapped up on Saturday as voters in Davidson County are in the process of deciding which candidates will serve as the city’s next mayor, vice mayor, and on the metro council.
The 2023 Metro Nashville General Election, which includes the Tennessee House District 51 Special Primary and Tennessee House District 52 Special General, is scheduled for Thursday, August 3. If necessary, a runoff election is scheduled for Thursday, September 14.
This election features a wide-open mayoral race, as current mayor John Cooper announced he would not be seeking re-election, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
The following twelve candidates are running to be the next mayor of Nashville:
- Freddie O’Connell, Metro Councilmember
- Alice Rolli, former political strategist
- Jeff Yarbro, State Senator (D-Nashville)
- Matt Wiltshire, former Nashville Economic and Community Development Director
- Heidi Campbell, State Senator (D-Nashville)
- Sharon Hurt, At-large Metro Councilmember
- Vivian Wilhoite, Davidson County Property Assessor
- Natisha Brooks, former Republican Congressional candidate
- Fran Bush, former Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) School Board member
- Bernie Cox, private contractor
- Stephanie Johnson, community advocate
- Michael Rowan, political unknown
A recent poll conducted by Washington-based GBAO Strategies on behalf of the Tennessee Laborers PAC through July 17-19 showed O’Connell leading the field of mayoral candidates with 21 percent of the vote while 23 percent of respondents answered “undecided.”
Trailing O’Connell in the poll was Rolli (13 percent), Yarbro (12 percent), and Wiltshire (10 percent).
Three out of the four frontrunners in the Laborers PAC poll have all picked up notable endorsements in the days leading up to this week’s race, according to Axios. Former TN-05 U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper endorsed Yarbro, Nashville Sheriff Daron Hall endorsed Whiltshire, and State Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville) endorsed O’Connell.
In terms of fundraising, Yarbro is reported to have a total of $509,848 on hand through the second quarter of this year – leading Wiltshire’s reported $491,176 and O’Connell’s $419,901 on hand.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photos by the individual candidates, left-to-right: Jeff Yarbro, Freddy O’Connell, Matt Whiltshire, Alice Rolli.
Photo “City Hall” by Michael Rivera CC4.0.
