Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry on Sunday explained her decision to reenter politics with a challenge to U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), asserting “now is the right time” for her foray into the public arena.
Barry resigned as Nashville mayor in 2018 after it was reported she financed an affair with her bodyguard using almost $175,000 in taxpayer money and used taxpayer resources and vehicles to facilitate the affair at the Nashville City Cemetery.
The former mayor told WKRN reporter Blake Eason she was motivated to challenge Green after witnessing “dysfunction in Washington,” and expressed optimism voters would trust her a second time.
“Now is the right time. I look at the dysfunction in Washington and I think people want a government that’s going to work, and so enough with the chaos.” Barry said, “I want to run and be part of the solution.”
When asked about her resignation from office in 2018, Barry said she takes responsibility for her actions.
I own everything I did,” Barry offered. She added, “I take absolute responsibility.”
The Democrat said she hopes “voters out there are believers in second chances,” and acknowledged it is her “role to convince people that I’m the right person for this job.”
Barry was also asked about the fatal overdose of her son Matthew in 2017. She warned, “We were one of 75,000 families that lost somebody [in 2017], but last year it was over 100,000, so it’s not getting better.”
She added, “People need treatment, they need access to healthcare, and that is one of the reasons I’m going to Washington.”
Barry pleaded guilty in Davidson County county to felony theft of property over $10,000 in 2018, securing a deal that required her resignation and repayment of $11,000 in restitution in the process.
As part of Barry’s plea deal, her criminal record was completely expunged in 2021, the with Metro Nashville Office of the Criminal Clerk confirming that year that the city had no record of the former mayor in their case management system.
Watch Barry’s interview with WKRN:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Megan Barry” by Megan Barry.
